Finding Matthew
by ChocoholiclikeLupin
Summary: Danny clicked on the profile with trepidation. 'Matthew Daniel Bing, Last seen: 3rd September 2012 outside his home in Westchester County, New York. Age now: 14.' He suddenly felt sick, this couldn't be him, could it?
1. Chapter 1

_The little boy stood shivering at the end of the cold, dark tunnel. The tattered old t-shirt and trousers barely covered his frail limbs. He was clearly malnourished. Bruises and cuts were scattered over his arms and legs. The woman wanted nothing more than to run to the boy's side, to pick him up and hold him tight, to kiss his away his pain and smother him with love. A part of her brain, the rational one, told her that this was not real. But that part went practically unheard. The boy looked up at the woman with tears streaming down his tiny face. She reached her hands out as her mouth opened in a silent plea._

 _"_ _Mama" He called, his voice so small and innocent "Mama help."_

 _The woman didn't think about it. She sprinted towards the little boy. Towards her son._

 _"_ _Matthew" she breathed "Matthew I'm coming baby"_

 _The little boy straightened up and opened his arms._

 _"_ _Mama help" he pleaded "Mama the bad men are coming"_

 _The woman was now metres away from her son, she extended her arms, ready to pick the boy up and hold him tight, ready to pick him up and never let him go._

 _"_ _Mama" he whispered, sounding so broken, so lost. "Mama please"_

 _She took one step forward and watched in horror as the small boy disappeared. She whirled around, looking desperately for the boy. He was gone, and she was alone again, surrounded by darkness._

 _"_ _Matthew" she screamed "Matthew!"_

Monica woke up with tears cascading down her face. The room was bathed in the soft yellow glow from the streetlight outside and she could make out the outline of her husband's sleeping form. She took a deep, shaky breath, climbed out of bed and walked to the other end of the room, closing the door softly behind her. She slipped into the room three doors down. With a small sob she walked over to the tiny toddler bed by the window, on it lay a crumpled blanket and a small stuffed bear. Baba bear, Matthew's favourite toy. Neither had been moved from the spot completely in over ten years. Not since the day her son was taken from them. In fact nothing had moved since that day. The room itself was frozen in time. A snapshot of the worse day of her life.

She walked over to the foot of the bed and crumpled to the floor with a broken sob. Her eyes traveled to the bookcase as memories assaulted her. Ones of joyous times, when she would lift her giggling three year old into her arms and let him pick a story, or of when she would walk in and find him laughing and playing with his older brother and sister. She put her head in her hands as another wave of sobs convulsed through her body.

It was minutes before her husband was at her side pulling her into his arms. His brown hair, now mixed with flecks of grey was even messier than normal because he had fallen asleep with it wet. He picked up his wife's wallowing form and cradled her in his arms. He didn't say anything, there was no point. No words could ever sooth the pain that the loss of their son had caused.

"He was here, he was hurt, he was crying. I couldn't get to him. I am a horrible mother." Each statement followed by a few heart wrenching sobs before the woman collapsed fully into her husband's arms, no longer able to breathe normally. Chandler just pulled her even closer to him, kissing her head and rubbing her back soothingly. Tears now streaming down his own face.

"You are not a horrible mother Mon" Chandler said softly, tilting his wife's head up so she was looking into his eyes. "Never, _never_ say that"

She just nodded and buried her head back into her husband's chest.

"We'll find him" he whispered shakily "I promise you we'll find him"

Monica said nothing, but Chandler knew she was doubting his words. Ten years was a long time. Too long.

"He's 14 now" Monica said softly, imagining what their youngest child, their miracle baby would look like now. He had always looked like Chandler, even as a newborn. But he had Monica's eyes.

They sat there in silence, both of them taking comfort in the other. Chandler didn't need to ask to know what his wife was thinking about. Because he was remembering the exact same thing. The day they lost him.

 _"_ _Mama where are we goin'?" The little boy asked as his mother zipped up his navy sweatshirt._

 _Monica smiled and kissed the boy on the nose "You and I are going to walk down to Auntie Rachel's house and see her, then we are going to pick up Jack and Erica from school. And maybe if you're really good, we can go get an ice-cream"_

 _Matthew's face immediately lit up at the prospect of ice-cream, making Monica laugh._

 _"_ _Really mama! Even chocolate ice-cream?" He asked, now bouncing up and down in excitement._

 _She tried to smooth his unruly hair before Matthew grabbed her hand. "Even chocolate Matty"_

 _The three year old ran down the front garden, shouting gleefully before quickly turning around. A panicked expression on his face._

 _"_ _Mama we forgot baba bear!" He cried_

 _"_ _Baba bear can stay behind Matt"_

 _"_ _No mama we have to bring him, he gets scared when he's on his own" Monica sighed as she looked into her son's bright blue eyes. Her eyes. "Please mama"_

 _"_ _I'll get him then, stay here" she warned as she walked quickly back into the house, leaving the front door open behind her. "Matthew" she called as she approached the front door, "stay away from the road"_

 _The boy nodded and waved at her with a cheeky grin so like his father's on his face. She was just approaching the first landing when she heard it. The squeal of brakes, a shout and a gut wrenching scream. Matthew's scream. Monica's blood ran cold as she ran down the stairs and out of the front door. A black van accelerated away, it's tyres leaving long black marks on the road. She almost fell to her knees when she realised what had happened. The van was gone, and so was Matthew._

Chandler slowly got up, pulling his wife with him.

"C'mon Mon" he said as he led them out Matthew's room. "Do you want any breakfast?"

Monica just shook her head as she followed her husband downstairs. Noticing the look on her face he pulled her into one more hug.

"We'll get through this Mon" He whispered into her hair. She nodded against his chest as he pulled her closer.

"I love you," he whispered softly, not sure that the words could bring any comfort but knowing it was the only thing he had to offer her.

"I know you do," Monica sighed, then hugged him even more tightly. "I love you too. So much."

They broke apart and walked into the kitchen, ready to start the day. Another day without their son.

 **Ok this story is kinda random, but It is coming to me in waves right now and won't go away. So like any person who is entirely too involved in the world of friends, I decided to write it down. Enjoy**

 **ChocoholiclikeLupin x**


	2. Chapter 2

The large London town house was silent save for sound of rain pounding the windows ruthlessly and the soft ticking of the grandfather clock that stood proud in the corner of the spacious living room. A small, messy haired, blue eyed boy sat curled up on the sofa with a book on his lap. But Daniel Williams was paying the words on the page no attention, instead he was watching the rain batter the window, lost in thought. His mother had left him alone again in favour of going to yet another one of her work parties, or meetings. Danny wasn't quite sure, he'd stoped asking years ago. The boy sighed heavily and turned away from the window and towards at the large airedale terrier lying at his feet. He smiled softly as he lazily scratched behind the dog's ear.

"It's just us eh Gatsby" He murmured, stroking the dog's head absentmindedly. "Just us, as usual" he finished, a bitter note in his voice. Seemingly sensing the boy's mood the dog turned around and started licking his hand enthusiastically. Danny laughed but was distracted by the buzzing of his phone. He grabbed it and smiled when he saw that it was from Katie, his best friend since the age of 6.

 _'_ _Can I come round? mum and dad are fighting again, need to get out'_

Danny texted back a quick yes and trudged down the corridor into the kitchen. He supposed it would've been a very nice and inviting room had it been used regularly, but the constant absence of anybody left the room feeling cold and lifeless. The rain waging war on the window panes doing nothing to help the room feel any more welcoming. When Danny was younger he used to imagine what this house would be like if he had a normal family. He used to imagine his mother cooking dinner in the kitchen, singing along to whatever song was on the radio while his father would lay the table, cracking jokes and chatting to Danny. He would have brothers and sisters running around too. But he would always be brought back down to the miserable reality that was his life.

Daniel Williams. A boy whose father walked out without any explanation when he was five and a mother who valued her career over her son. And not a brother or sister in sight.

Sometimes, when he was feeling particularly lonely, he wondered why his mother even bothered adopting him in the first place, he occasionally felt as if she only saw him as a burden to her thriving career. Danny knew his mother loved him, but after hours with no company he couldn't always stop those traitorous thoughts from creeping in.

He could barely remember parents being together, or his father at all, but sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours at home with only the dog for company, he came up with a strange vision: a man with light brown hair and bright blue eyes ruffling his hair, grinning affectionately down at him. This had always confused him, he knew from the very few photos he had of his father that he was blond. So the memory wasn't of him, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that that man was someone who cared for him very much. He had spent hours scouring family photos for him, but he had yet to yield any information about his identity.

Danny was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of the doorbell. He heaved open the heavy front door to reveal the form of his best friend. Katie Thompson.

Almost half the boys at Danny's school had had a crush on Katie at some point, something which both amused and annoyed Danny to no end. He could easily see why though. What Katie lacked in height she made up for in personality. Always friendly and very outgoing, Katie would talk to anyone and everyone. She had an ability to make anyone feel at ease when talking to her. Katie had dark skin and bushy black hair that was usually tied up in a bun on top of her head.

She stood shivering at the doorway, completely soaked but despite everything she was smiling. That was something Danny had always admired about his best friend. She managed to smile no matter what was going on in her life.

"Hello Gatsby!" She said brightly, stroking the dog's head as he jumped up and down in excitement. His tail was wagging so much Danny was amazed he hadn't knocked anything over yet.

"You alright Kate?" Danny asked as he closed the front door and walked into the kitchen, Katie following behind.

"Yeah I guess" She said softly, but Danny knew her well enough to notice the sad note in her voice. "It's so stupid, they were fighting over the TV remote, the _TV remote_ of all things. One minute we were watching and the next they're screaming at each other because mum wanted to change the channel. And then if that wasn't enough, my brothers join in on this stupid fight!" She rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "Oh don't look at me like that!" She snapped, referring to the sympathetic look Danny was sending her. He smiled apologetically and grabbed a bag of popcorn from the cupboard and some lemonades from the fridge. They made their way back into the living room and flopped down on the sofa with an exaggerated 'oomph'.

"Sometimes I wish I just had a functional family you know?" Katie asked as she popped open the can. Danny smiled wryly at his feet. He understood that feeling completely. Next to him Katie paused, and looked towards her best friend.

"Do you ever wonder what your life would be like had your dad not left? Or if you weren't adopted?"

Danny let out a dry laugh and met Katie's eyes.

"All the time." Katie didn't say anything, but stayed quiet. She knew he would elaborate in his own time.

"I don't know…." He said eventually, quietly. "If my dad hadn't left I guess I would have hopefully had some brothers or sisters. Or mum wouldn't have to work all the time so I'd be alone less often."

He went quiet and looked back down at to his feet.

"And if you weren't adopted? If you stayed with your real parents?" She asked carefully. Katie had tiptoed round this topic for a long time, she wasn't quite sure what Danny felt towards his birth mother and father. But she was pretty certain that Danny didn't know what to feel towards his birth parents either.

"They're not my real parents" Danny snapped "They didn't raise me, mum did. They gave me up."

The anger in Danny's voice startled Katie. It wasn't something she -or anyone- heard that often. But she couldn't help but noticed the tinge of sadness at the end of his sentence either.

"What _do_ you know about them?" Katie pressed cautiously, scanning his face for any signs of discomfort.

Danny ran a hand through his hair, and sighed before looking up into the concerned, yet curious face of his best friend. "Mum told me once that they were probably American, she doesn't know if I originally came from the States or if I just lived with American parents here. But I had an American twang when I was first adopted, like not strong enough to be an accent, but still there. I'd use the American terminology for stuff too. It went away by the time I was four or five." Danny paused for a moment, thinking about what to say next. "Mum also said that there's also a chance that I was abused, or at least mistreated, because apparently I was terrified of tall, bald, muscly men. I would just freak out if one came towards me, especially if they were running or something" He noticed the look on Katie's face and smiled very slightly "I know, oddly specific right?" Katie reciprocated his smile but said nothing, just motioned him to continue.

"That's about it I guess. It was a closed adoption so she doesn't know where I came from, or anything about my birth parents." He paused for a moments and furrowed his eyebrows, looking pensively and the floor. He hesitated, opening his mouth then closing it again. "This isn't really related to my birth parents, but remember that bear I used to bring to every sleepover we had until we were about nine?"

Katie paused, she did vaguely remember Danny dragging round a tattered teddy bear. "Oh yeah" she grinned at the memory. "You were really attached to that thing."

"I got him when I was three, a couple weeks after I was adopted. Apparently I kept asking for a 'Baba bear', neither of my parents had any idea what I was talking about, and I didn't like any of the stuffed animals that they had got me. Eventually my dad took me to a toy shop and let me pick out any stuffed animal, because I was so set on having 'baba bear'. I picked out that bear and called it baba bear junior."

"Junior was short for baba bear junior" Katie laughed "I just thought you had called it Danny junior or something" Danny grinned at her.

"Danny junior?" He asked incredulously, a smile on his face. "I'm not _that_ uncreative" When Katie continued to laugh Danny couldn't help but join in.

"Anyway, I have no idea if that has anything to do with my birth parents or if I was just being fussy, but that's all I know about them." He finished quietly, his eyes going back down to his fingers.

Katie looked at him pensively. "Do you want to know more about them?"

He looked up at her and thought for a moment.

"They gave me up" he stated bluntly, then paused "But at the same time…I mean obviously I'm curious…I don't know. Maybe I'll find more about them when I'm older."

Another silence engulfed the room as Danny turned the TV on and flipped the channels until he found something he knew Katie liked, but Katie's questions were playing at the back of his mind. What were his real parents like? The naïve, childish part of him wanted to believe they were like the family he had always dreamed of. A mother and father who loved each other more than anything, with younger siblings for him to tease and older siblings for him to annoy. He wanted to believe that they lived in a huge house -similar to the one he lived in now- but this house would be full of love and laughter. Realistically he knew that the chances of that were minuscule. Why would a family like that give up a child for adoption? He knew that his birth mother was most likely a teenager who couldn't take care of a baby. He knew that he was most likely abandoned somewhere, unloved, unwanted.

He looked down at Katie, who was absorbed in the drama playing out on TV and smiled faintly. He had his friends, he had a mum who although was often absent, loved him. And of course, he had his dog. He took a long swig of his drink. For the moment, at least, he was content with his lot in life.

 **Ok wow. The response to that first chapter was AMAZING, thank you so much.**

 **I know nothing really happens in this chapter, but I promise it gets more interesting next chapter.**

 **Thank you again for all the reviews, follows and favourites.**

 **ChocoholiclikeLupin x**


	3. Chapter 3

Danny sighed in defeat as Katie beat him for the fifth time the game of noughts and crosses currently being played on the back of Danny's English book. This was ridiculous, how is it possible for her to be this good at it? Upon seeing her smug face he promptly stuck his tongue out. She just rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded a lot like 'mature'

"Alright" Their teacher shouted as the volume in the room slowly increased. "Homework diaries out, as you should know it's international missing children's day next Friday, and that means you will have to research and then do a presentation on the case of a missing child. This will be due on the day itself, May 25th"

The missing children project had been an annual thing at the school for almost 40 years. A previous headmaster started it after a 15 year old girl who attended the school in the 80s vanished without a trace on her way home, and since then the school had made sure that she was never forgotten. They wanted to raise awareness amongst the student body of the cases of thousands of missing children around the world.

The teacher surveyed her class to make sure they were writing it all down in their homework planners.

"As you probably know by now the presentation must include their name, age, where they went missing from and any advancements in their cases you can find. The presentations should last two to four minutes"

The room was quiet as the students scribbled all the necessary information down.

"Ok pack up your books and get ready to be dismissed"

* * *

Two hours later Danny sat at his laptop with a downcast expression on his face as he looked at the pictures on the missing kids website. Hundreds of pictures of children were on the screen, so small it was hard to make out any features. But they all had innocent smiles on their faces. All of them, from the babies to the teenagers. He frowned as he lent back into his chair. How do this many people lose a child and them not turn up? He could see how you could lose a child for five minutes, maybe even an hour or two. And he knew that occasionally children go missing because some deranged psycho has got them. But he also knew that happened very rarely.

"What'cha thinking about?" Katie said from her place on Danny's bed. She was also flicking through the website as she tried to find a child to talk about for her presentation.

"How can this many children go missing?" Danny replied, running a hand through his messy brown hair. Katie looked up from the laptop and to his dejected face.

"It's sad isn't it? Mum lost me once in the supermarket when I was four, she said it was the scariest twenty minutes of her life. Can you imagine how all these parents feel?" Danny didn't reply to that, he hadn't even considered the parents. How many thousands of parents were out there, waiting for a child who might never come home?

"Have you picked someone yet?" Katie asked as she scribbled down some information in her jotter. "Look what I've got, Jessie Raynor, went out on her bike with her cousin one morning and never came home." She finished with a sigh and brushed a stray strand of hair out her face. "I hate doing this project, it's so depressing"

Danny mumbled an agreement and looked back to his screen. He clicked on the search bar in the top right corner and tapped in his name. _Daniel._ He wasn't really thinking about what he was doing, he was messing about- seeing how many missing Daniels there were out there. His jaw almost hit the floor when he got his answer. Three hundred and sixty four missing boys called Daniel. Without thinking about what he was doing he put in his year of birth and refreshed the page. Twenty seven profiles came up. He flicked through a couple of profiles before deciding to put the month he was born in. Five faces came up. Two 10 year olds, a baby and a boy who looked about six. But his eyes were drawn to the final profile.

 _Matthew Daniel Bing_

 _Case type: abducted, injured, missing_

 _Date of birth: 25th January 2009_

 _Age now: 14_

 _Birth place: Westchester County, New York., USA_

 _Hair: Brown_

 _Eyes: Blue_

 _Distinguishable features: Small scar on right knee, scar on chin, large birthmark on chest_

 _Last seen: 3rd September 2012 outside his home in Westchester County, New York._

He scrolled down slightly and saw a picture of the child. The boy looked about three years old. He was looking up at the camera with a huge smile on his chubby little face, his blue eyes sparkling. The boy's hair was all over the place, as if someone had just ruffled it. Danny minimised the window quickly, that boy looked like..but it couldn't be. He suddenly felt sick, this couldn't be _him_ could it? No, he was being ridiculous. The birth date was a couple weeks out and Danny was British, not American. It wasn't possible. Was it? The question seeped through his brain and suddenly he felt completely lost.

"Mum!" He shouted, running out the room, completely oblivious to his best friend, who had jumped about a foot in the air before following him down the stairs. He sprinted into her study to see his mother sitting at her impeccably ordered desk, typing what he guessed was an email, not that he really cared. It always amazed Danny how his mother could keep everything so ordered. Pencils and pens were lined up on one side, equally spaced and perfectly parallel to each other. Lined paper on the other side. In the middle was her laptop. Unlike most people, she had no pictures or personal touches on the desk. It made the whole room feel cold, but he guessed that reflected his mother's personality quite well. Cold. His mother had short blond hair, thin lips and brown eyes. But unlike Katie's brown eyes, they held no warmth.

"Mum where are the photo albums?" His mother turned in her chair and looked over her thin spectacles at him with her calculating eyes.

"Why do you want to see those?" She asked, studying her son suspiciously

"Katie wanted to see a picture, it's for a school project we're doing" He made up, ignoring the bemused look he was receiving from Katie. She gave one more suspicious look at Danny before turning back to her work.

"Bottom shelf in the living room cabinet" With that he darted across the corridor and into the living room, pulling out the black, leather bound album.

"Are you gonna tell me what all of this is about Danny?" Katie enquired from her place in the doorway. Danny jumped, he had almost forgotten she was there.

"Come on" He said, racing past her and up the stairs into his room. He waited until Katie was inside before slamming his door shut.

"Dan what the hell is going on?" He ignored her and flipped through the album urgently, looking for the oldest photo of him.

"And why does your mum keep family photos in an album anyway? It's the 21st century" This was also ignored as he pulled out a picture of him on his mother's lap. His mother was smiling, something he doesn't really see her do anymore, not since his dad left. Danny looked about three or four in this photo. He was smiling, but still looked uneasy. On the back of the photo someone had written

 _Daniel and Penelope, December 2012._

Danny jumped up and opened the window on his laptop. The picture of Matthew Bing came up full screen. Katie gasped at it, seemingly keying into what was going on.

"You don't think…..That can't be….I mean….That's not _you_ is it?" She asked almost inaudibly, shock taking over her features. Danny didn't say anything, but he just pulled out the old photo of him and placed side by side with the picture of Matthew Bing. He heard Katie inhale sharply next to him. They looked similar, that was undeniable. But Matthew was chubby, with a large, dimpled smile and bright eyes. Daniel however looked thinner. The happiness was gone from his eyes, replaced with apprehension. They studied the two faces for a moment.

"You don't think that's you? Do you?" Katie asked again, her eyes still glued to the laptop screen

"I….I don't know" Danny whispered.

Katie reached over and clicked on the link underneath the photo. "They have an age progressed photo"

Before Danny could even think about whether he wanted to see the photo or not the picture filled the screen. It was Danny, but at the same time it wasn't. Danny thought it looked more like what his brother would look like if he had one. The nose was too long and the face too round. But there were clear similarities. The shape and colour of the eyes were identical, as was the curve of the lips.

"Wow Dan" Katie breathed "That's uncanny" She closed the age progressed picture and scrolled up to the top of the page, reading the information there. Danny saw her eyes widen slightly.

"Don't you have a scar on your chin?" she asked, straightening up and looking at it.

"Yeah but loads of people do"

"And you've got one on your knee?"

"Yes" Danny agreed quietly

"And you've got a birthmark on your chest?"

"Yeah" Danny breathed.

Danny stared ahead while Katie continued to get more information on Matthew Bing. He could barely wrap his head around the whole thing. An hour ago he had no idea where he was originally from, and now he finds out that he could be the missing son of a couple in America. It was too much.

"Here" Katie said, staring at the laptop screen. "It's a newspaper article, dated a couple of weeks after Matthew Bing went missing. Matthew Daniel Bing, youngest child of Chandler and Monica Bing was born on the 25th of January 2009 and went missing from his home in Westchester County, New York on the 3rd of September 2012. He is just three and a half years old. The three year old was playing in the front garden when he was snatched and bundled into a black Ford Transit van by an unknown man. Neighbours' CCTV cameras captured the moment. The man who took him is bald, white, of medium build and approximately six foot four. His face was not visible in the footage so no composite sketch has yet been able to be made. The Van was found two days later on the Canadian Border in Vermont, but no trace of the child has been found." She paused and looked over at her best friend. He was sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. She smiled sympathetically and sat down beside him.

"There's a number on the website, you could call" Danny just looked at her incredulously

"Yeah that would be a fun conversation, Hey random stranger, I think I might be your long lost son. How do I know? I found a profile online that looks like me"

Katie just rolled her eyes. "Don't you want to find out if that's really you?"

"I don't know….yeah I guess" He said, Katie tilted her head to the side, studying the pictures.

"Your mum might know something" She pointed out, Danny just shook his head and ran a hand through his hair

"I'm not asking her"

There was a beat of silence and Katie started fiddling with the hem of her skirt.

"Yeah… it's probably for the best anyway"

"What d'you mean?"

She looked hesitant. "I mean…how did it happen? Back when you were three? If that Matthew Bing boy _is_ you, how did you get from New York in September, to here and adopted by Christmas?

Danny looked down at his feet. Trust Katie to start asking the practical questions. He was still trying to wrap his head around the possibility that he could be a completely different person.

"Think about it" she smiled weakly "Children don't just disappear for no reason, you..or Matthew…must've been taken deliberately"

Danny thought he knew what Katie was getting at, but asked anyway. "What's this got to do with mum?"

Katie sat in silence for a moment, looking uncomfortable. She sighed heavily. "I think…If Matthew Bing _is_ you…I think we have to consider the possibility that your parents were somehow involved.

* * *

 **Ok wow, the response to this story is so much better than I could ever expect. Thank you all so so much x.**

 **I think the next chapter will be up soon, definitely in the next week.**

 **ChocoholiclikeLupin**


	4. Chapter 4

_He was running, the ground moved quickly beneath his feet. He looked up at the large suburban house in front of him and waved at a woman standing near the front door. The sun bounced off her white dress and made her look almost angelic. She smiled and waved back at him._

 _"_ _Matthew" She called, her voice sounded far away, like it was coming from the other side of a long tunnel. "Stay away from the road"_

 _She then disappeared through the door, her black hair cascading down her back. He wanted to follow her, find her, see her face. He stepped forward to follow her. He was happy, eager to reach the woman. Then pain. Agony. A huge blow to the head. He screamed. And it all went black._

Danny woke with a start. _What the hell was that?._

He sat bolt upright and took some deep, calming breaths. The numbers on the clock on his bedside table blinked harshly in the darkness. Five forty two am. Deciding it was too late for him to bother going back to sleep he grabbed his school uniform and went to take a shower, immediately relaxing when the warm water hit his back. The dream played over and over in his head. He was Matthew, and the dark haired woman by the door was his mother.

Of course, he mused as he washed the shampoo out of his hair, he had no proof. But in his heart he felt sure. Was he remembering his kidnapping? He thought back to the article Katie had read to him a week ago. Matthew Bing had been taken from his front garden. In his dream he had been looking up at the front door of a house. Matthew Bing had been bundled into a van. He couldn't recall being thrown into a Van but he could recall being hit over the head. That had to mean something.

He couldn't stop thinking about the woman in the dream. He was convinced it was his real mother. It had to be, it made sense.

When Katie had asked if he wanted to know more about Matthew Bing he wasn't sure. But now he had never been more sure of anything. He didn't just want to know, he _needed_ to know. He was going to find as much as he could about Matthew Bing, he decided as he buttoned up his school shirt. Whatever it took.

* * *

His friends had looked at him oddly when he had taken Katie's hand and pulled her away from them and to a bench near the playing fields.

"This better be good Dan 'cause if they run out of chocolate cake and I have to have an apple for pudding I will kill you." she warned. Danny rolled his eyes and pulled a chocolate bar out of his blazer pocket, handing it to Katie.

"Wow you're actually sharing your food? What's wrong Dan?."

Danny rolled his eyes again and ran a hand through his hair.

"I need your help" He said, suddenly nervous. Katie looked up at him expectantly and handed him half the chocolate bar, which he took gratefully.

"Well I had a dream last night…or a flashback, I'm not really sure" He looked down at his fingers and fiddled with his tie as he went on to explain the whole dream. Katie's face went from disbelief to shock as he went on with his story.

"And I don't know if I just imagined it because of the article we read…. but it felt so… _real._ And I'll understand if you don't believe me" he rambled "I mean you must think I'm mental but-"

"I believe you" She interjected, smiling when he looked up at her in disbelief.

"You do?" he said with an unsure look on his face.

"Yeah, I think it's just too coincidental. Matthew Bing looks exactly like you did at the same age. He went missing in September, you're adopted in December of the same year. He has scars on his knee and chin, you have scars on your knee and chin that you got before you were adopted and nobody knows how they got there. Your birthdays are two weeks apart."

Danny smiled appreciatively at his best friend.

"Well I need as much information as possible on Matthew Bing, and his parents"

"Come round to mine after school then, Dad's out so he and mum won't be screaming at each other, have you got your laptop?" At Danny's nod she continued. "Ok good, you ok to come round?"

"Yeah"

"Well then, let's find out as much as we can about the Bings."

* * *

Danny had always preferred Katie's garden to his, and on a warm May afternoon like it was, her garden was perfect. The grass was always a lush green- long and soft, perfect for lying down on. The two of them were spread out on the grass with a laptop in front of each of them and a packet of chocolate biscuits between them.

"Where do we even start Danny?" Katie was nibbling on the corner of the biscuit while she waited for the laptop to start up.

"Wikipedia?" he replied as he typed 'Matthew Bing' into the search bar. Thousands of hits immediately popped up, from links to missing children sites to newspaper articles. He clicked on the wikipedia link.

 _Matthew Daniel Bing (Born 25 January 2009) disappeared from outside his home in Westchester county, New York on the afternoon of 3 September 2012, sparking one of the largest missing person investigations in US history. His whereabouts remain unknown._

"Hey look" Katie piped up "Under family, father: Chandler Bing, mother: Monica (née Geller) Bing, siblings: Jack Bing, Erica Bing"

"And?"  
"Find out as much as you can about the family, and I'll find out everything possible about the disappearance."

Danny nodded and they got to work, slowly building a profile of Matthew Bing. Daniel learnt that the family still lived in the same house their young son disappeared from 10 years earlier, and after doing a bit more digging he found the address.

Noting down the address he took a deep breath and stretched out. His eyes scanned the garden and settled on Katie. She was staring intently at a video. The same picture of Matthew Bing that they had found on the website last week took up the right hand side of the screen. But it was the distraught looking couple on the left that caught Danny's attention. He was certain that he had never seen them before but they were so completely familiar it took his breath away. The women was looking directly at the camera, tears that she seemed determined to back welling in the back of her piercing blue eyes. She looked exhausted. Danny felt trapped in her gaze as he listened to what she was saying.

"Please" Her voice was shaky, broken, but at the same time so determined. "To the person who is with Matthew, or has been with Matthew please, _please._ We beg of you. Just bring him home. Don't hurt him, don't scare him. Please…he's only three…tell us where to find him, Or put him somewhere where he's safe." The tear that she had been trying so hard to hold back fell, followed by another, then another. Once one had fallen it seemed as though she couldn't stop them. The man beside her took her hand and gave it a squeeze. He looked on the brink of tears as well. Next to him the woman took a shaky breath, quickly wiping away the tears on her face. And started to speak again.

"Matthew, Matthew if you can see this then go find someone, tell them your name. Mommy and Daddy love you so much Matthew, and we will find you. We will bring you home." She sobbed and gripped her husband's hand so hard it had to have hurt. If it did the man didn't show it. A police officer started to speak and Katie paused the video, Danny vaguely notice her look at him. He was too focused on the couple's faces still on the screen to pay her any heed. They were undeniably, achingly familiar.

"Katie" he said quietly

"Yeah?"  
"I need to meet them, they're my birth parents, I'm sure of it"

Katie looked up at him with an expression on her face Danny couldn't quite place. She turned slightly so that she was facing him.

"How can you know?" She asked him softly, closing the laptop.

"I don't know… I just do. I recognise them." he hesitated for a moment "Call it a gut feeling…an instinct…I can just _feel_ it."

"Well how are we going to meet them, are you going to call them or something?"

Danny paused for a moment to think about his options, he couldn't call, this was just too big for a phone call. And plus, Danny knew he would never have the guts to make that call. What would he say? _Hi there, I think I might be your missing son. Only with a different name, and birthday. Oh and from a different country._ They would laugh at him.

No, he had to do it face to face, it was the only way he could possibly even begin to convince them he was telling the truth, or at least what he thought was the truth.

"No, I need to do it face to face" Danny was absentmindedly pulling out the grass, bunching it up in his hands.

"Are you suggesting we just turn up unannounced at their door? Their door in _New York"_

"Yes" He replied, smiling slightly at Katie's incredulous look

"And how do you suggest we get there?"

"Well normally people take the plane but if it makes you more comfortable we could take a boat"

Katie just rolled her eyes "How the hell are we gonna get tickets for that"

"I think mum's a guest lecturer at NYU this half term, I can ask her to bring us" he assured her with determination on his face.

"Is you're mum gonna allow us to come?" she asked doubtfully, she knew very well that Penelope Williams had three very key aspects to her life. Her career, her social life, and her son. These three never mixed. Ever. Something Danny had informed her bitterly so many times in the past after he was left at home while she went abroad to lecture. She couldn't see Danny's mother suddenly deciding to bring them along. It appeared that Danny had a more positive outlook however.

"Yeah why not? I'll just say I want some more mother-son time or something, and then we can go see the Bings on the day she is lecturing."

"And your mum will just let you go off and see some strangers in a house outside the city, strangers who you think are your real parents?" Katie said disbelievingly, her eyebrows raised.

"Well I'm not going to tell her that! If I just say that we want to go sightseeing or something. She'll let us go." Danny replied, rolling his eyes. "Besides what's there to lose in asking?"

Katie didn't have an answer to that. She fiddled absentmindedly with a loose thread on her school skirt. Coiling and uncoiling round her finger. She could feel Danny's eyes on her and after a moment, lifted her head up so that their eyes would meet.

"Are you sure they're you parents Dan?" She asked him softly, her voice barely above a whisper "Are you really _really_ one hundred precent sure? Because what if they aren't? Can you imagine how devastated you'd be? How devastated _they'd_ be? Her eyes went straight back to the grass. She didn't want to see his reaction.

"I dunno Kate, but I can't _not_ find out. I'd rather be wrong than stay here and never know at all. But Katie, that video, they are just _so_ familiar. And I know I could just feel that way because I want them to be but it…It's not."

Katie smiled sympathetically at her best friend, who was now fiddling with a blade of grass. He looked up at her and smiled back. "I've just got a gut feeling about this…. It just makes sense. And I can't explain it but it just _feels_ right."

Katie offered another smile to her best friend and grinned. "Well I guess we're going to New York then"

"And if my mum doesn't want to take us with her?" Danny asked with a raised an eyebrow.

"Well then we'll save up for a ticket and just go ourselves. If you're so sure that they are your birth parents Danny then they probably are. We could save up, it would just take us a bit longer to get there."

Danny grinned and ruffled Katie's hair affectionately, ignoring her squeal of protest.

"This is gonna be an adventure then isn't it?"

"You bet it is!" Katie exclaimed, shuffling closer to Danny's side. "Katie Thompson and Danny Williams conquer New York! Visit Times Square, Statue of Liberty and the Empire State, and get a hot dog from a hot dog cart!" She now had her arms flung out in front of her, her face lit up in excitement. "Oh yeah, and find your birth parents" She added as an afterthought.

"Get a hot dog?" Danny had to ask "There's a million things to do in New York and you wanna get a hot dog?"

Katie just rolled her eyes, still grinning.

"In every film I've ever watched set in New York somebody brings up the hot dogs, you can't tell me you're not just a _little_ bit curious to what they taste like?" Danny chuckled and wrapped an arm round Katie, pulling her to his side.

"When we get to New York I promise I'll buy you a hotdog then" Danny laughed. He smiled as Katie thanked him and started jabbering on excitedly about hot dogs and bagels. He was relieved that Katie was so quick to accept all this, most people would have been trying to convince him that flying across the Atlantic was a ludicrous idea. And they would have a point. He had no real proof that he was related to the Bings. Yet Katie knew him well enough to know that trying to stop him would just make him more determined to go. He didn't know how the Bings would react to his sudden appearance at their front door. He didn't know if they would accept him or just send him packing, he didn't even know if his mother would be willing to bring them to New York to begin with. But one thing he knew for certain was that Katie would be by his side every step of the way.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked him curiously, noting his far away look. Danny just looked at her with a lopsided grin on his face.

"You're the best friend in the world Kate, thank you for doing this"

A slight blush touched Katie's cheeks as she ginned back at him.

"Best friend in the world huh? Remember that next time I ask for your maths homework" Danny just rolled his eyes and punched her playfully on the arm in response. She grinned and got up, gathering her laptop and jotter.

"Mum left money for pizza, wanna stay here from dinner?"

Danny also got up, wiping grass off his hands and picking up his things.

"Yeah sure" he agreed as they walked back inside.

"Can I have a slice of yours then?" She asked cheekily

"What no!"

"But Danny I'm your best friend in the _world_ "

"Eat a slice of my pizza and you won't be."

The two of them argued playfully back and forth until the pizza was delivered and eaten. Danny batting Katie's hand away from his pizza slices every couple of minutes.

"Dan?" Katie said when they had slipped into a comfortable silence

"Yeah?"

"You're my best friend in the world too"

* * *

 **See I promised I'd update in a week :)**

 **Once again (and I'll keep saying this because I'm still amazed by it) thank you for the response and the reviews to this story. It honestly makes my day when I get a little notification that says somebody's reviewed or followed or favourited this, and plus it makes me want to write more.**

 **I'll try get the next chapter up soon but I've got that annoying thing where I know what' going to happen and how things will play out but I can't get it down on paper without it sounding like a jumbled mess. It'll (hopefully) be up in the next week or so.**

 **ChocoholiclikeLupin x**


	5. Chapter 5

Danny approached the door at the end of the corridor warily. Logically he knew that there was no reason for him to be so nervous, he lived here after all. But his mother's room was not somewhere he visited very often. It was the biggest room on the third floor, and was situated at the very end of the corridor. He stopped outside the room and hesitated for a moment. He had rehearsed what he was going to say to convince his mother repeatedly in his head, but now that he stood outside her door he was suddenly doubting whether asking her was even worth it. He could hear his mother moving around in the room, 'probably getting ready for yet another _very_ important meeting or social event', Danny thought bitterly. He knew it was now or never. His mother tended to stay out late when she went to events like these, and if she did come back earlier, she was either drunk or in a bad mood. He knocked twice on the door before he could overthink what would happen and waited patiently as he heard the movements inside stop.

"Come in" she said softly. Danny took a deep breath and entered the room. Nothing had changed from the last time he had been here. The walls were the same light grey colour they had always been. The queen sized bed was perfectly made, not a single crease in sight. His mother's various bottles of face cream and make up were all arranged neatly on the dressing table. Danny breathed in and smelt his mother's perfume. Rose. He took one last quick look around before sitting on the edge of the bed so he was opposite his mother.

"Daniel, to what to I owe the pleasure?" She said with an air of surprise as she took a seat at her dressing table.

Danny hesitated a bit and looked down at his fingers. "Well mum I was just thinking, you know how you're going to lecture at NYU in a couple weeks?"

"Yes" she said, slightly confused at her son's sudden interest in her work schedule.

"Well I've never been to New York you see…. and I was wondering if I could maybe… If it's not any trouble…..If I could come with you?" He finished quietly. Penelope raised an eyebrow as she studied her son curiously. He was running a hand through his hair, something he had always done when he was nervous. It was a habit she hated.

"And why would you want to do that?" She asked, Danny squirmed slightly and looked up at her.

"It's just…. we never spend any time together" he admitted quietly, now looking back down to his feet "And I'm on half term break then so I won't miss any school…. And we haven't been anywhere together in ages." He looked back up to his mother.

"I guess that wouldn't be a bad idea" she admitted after a moment of silence, both amused and slightly saddened by the look of surprise on her son's face.

"Really?" He asked hopefully, a huge smile breaking out on his face.

"You're right Daniel, we haven't done anything together in a very long time have we?" She sighed as she regarded her son fondly. He was now looking up and smiling ear to ear, she couldn't help but smile too.

"You can come with me, but I'm lecturing for two days. What are you going to do while I work? You could never keep up with the material I cover."

Danny ignored the insult, he needed to be in her good books.

"Well actually that's what I was going to ask you about…. Ummm, well obviously you're going to be working, and you're right, I won't be happy sitting in on your lectures. so I was wondering if maybe…well…If maybe-"  
"Spit it out Daniel I don't have all day" she said, growing tired of his hesitating.

"Can Katie come too? We'll behave I promise and she can keep me company when you're working. We'll do all of our holiday homework as well" He bit his lip as he looked up at her, pleading for her to say yes with his eyes. Penelope looked at her son thoughtfully. Being an only child herself she knew full well how lonely it could be.

"And would Katie's parents allow her to come with us?" She asked after a moment of thought.

"Yes mum, they're not doing anything so she's free, can she really come mum?" he asked quickly, a hopeful smile forming on his face.

"Yes I guess she can" she said, smiling at her son's excited face. "But you have to promise to behave Daniel, I don't need my reputation in tatters because you two decide to cause a ruckus."

Danny jumped up and hugged his mother round the middle without really thinking about it, he hadn't expected to convince her so easily, or at all. Her arms came around him in an awkward sort of way, somewhat stiff. An outsider could easily tell she was a woman not used to these sorts of displays of affection. She patted him slightly awkwardly on the head before drawing back and walking to the chest of drawers on the other side of the room.

"I mean it Daniel, you have to behave and do work while I'm lecturing, I will not stand for any trouble. Do you understand me?" She missed the moment of hesitation and guilt that flashed across her son's face. He knew full well that going to a house in the suburbs to tell complete strangers that you thought you were their long lost son wouldn't come under her definition of behaving. But it was a lie he would have to tell.

"I promise mum" He assured her, not quite meeting her eyes though.

She smiled slightly before ushering Danny out the door. "I need to get ready now" she said as Danny walked into the corridor "I'll be back late"

Danny stared at the now closed door with a mixture of glee and disbelief. Who knew it would take so little convincing? He grinned widely and ran down the stairs and into his room. He couldn't wait to tell Katie the good news.

"I'm going to New York" He whispered to himself, hardly daring to believe his luck. He laughed slightly. "I'm going to New York… I'm gonna meet the Bings"

He flopped onto his bed and closed his eyes, thoughts of Matthew Bing and his parents running through his head. He'd managed to convince his mother to go to New York, but how the hell was he going to convince the Bings he was their son?

* * *

"Guess what!" Danny exclaimed, dumping his books on the desk with a loud thud. Katie barely looked up, her head still resting in her arms on the desk.

"What?" she moaned, her voice muffled slightly.

"I said guess"

Katie sent him a withering glare as she shuffled in her seat slightly, trying to get more comfortable. "Dan it's too early for this" She whined with a huff. Picking up Danny's maths textbook she placed it under her head to use as a pillow, before sighing heavily and closing her eyes. Danny just rolled his eyes. Katie had never been a morning person.

"Oh come on Kate"

Katie cracked open one eye and squinted at him. "You finally taught Gatsby to rollover"

"Nope"

"You got out of that detention with Mr Briggs?"

"No" He replied a little sadly

"What then?" Katie asked impatiently, now fed up with the game. She glared at Danny, who responded with his trademark cheeky grin.

"Somebody got out of the wrong side of bed this morning" He remarked, his smile widening when she groaned something incomprehensible. "I guess I'll just take someone else to New York with me then"

That got her attention. She looked up at Danny, studying his face to see if he was joking or not.

"Come again?"

"You heard me"

Katie grinned widely, laughing slightly as she watched her best friend, who was now rocking on the balls of his feet, giddy with excitement.

"Seriously?"

"Dead serious"

Katie laughed and jumped up, tiredness forgotten, and hugged Danny in excitement. Danny laughed loudly when he suddenly found his vision obscured by bushy black hair, and his arms full of Katie. He barely noticed the boys at the back of the room wolf-whistling at them.

"How the _hell_ did you get your mum to agree to that?" Katie asked once she had released Danny from her bone-crushing hug. Danny breathed a laugh and ran a hand through his mop of messy brown hair.

"I honestly don't know, I was expecting to have to do some serious begging and pleading, but all I had to say was that I wanted more mother-son time, and she agreed." he explained as he and Katie sat down behind their desk.

"So when do we go then Dan?" Katie questioned

"First day of half term, and then we return on the 17th of June"

Katie started counting the dates on her fingers. "Dan half term starts on the 9th, that gives us ten days to get as many pictures, information and whatever else we can find of you to properly convince the Bings that you're their son"

Danny paused, he'd been so distracted by trying to see the Bings he had forgotten completely to think about how he was going to convince them.

"Well we best get started as soon as possible then" Danny replied, pulling out his notebook as their teacher walked into the classroom and started the lesson.

* * *

"So we have old photos, videos and a copy of your adoption certificate" Katie said as she paced Danny's room, ticking off each item on her fingers. "Anything else?"

Danny thought for a moment "I don't think so. Can you think of anything that would be useful?"

Katie stopped her pacing to think for a moment. "Nope." Then let out a breath as she sat next to Danny on the edge of his bed. He was fiddling absentmindedly with the corner of his phone case, and although his face didn't show it, Katie could tell he was troubled. He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his tousled hair.

"I can't believe we're actually gonna do this" He said, laughing slightly, as if disbelieving of his own nerve. "I mean neither of us are exactly goody two shoes-"

Katie snorted and Danny couldn't help but grin. The pair of them did seem to have a certain talent for trouble when they were together.

"But this is a bit far even for us" he continued. Katie smiled sympathetically at her best friend, but remained quiet. She couldn't even begin to imagine what was going through his head.

"Do you know what you're gonna say to them?" Danny stayed quiet. Did he know what he was going to say to them? No. Had he thought about it? It occupied his thoughts almost all the time.

"No idea."

The pair sat side by side silence for a moment, Katie opened her mouth as if to say something, and closed it again quickly. Noticing the confused look Danny was sending her she hesitated.

"Have you asked your mum anything about how she got you… Where you came from?"

Danny paused. He knew what Katie was getting at. Did he know if his mum was involved in his kidnapping at all? He hadn't asked her, he didn't dare. But he thought about it almost as often as he thought about what he would say to the Bings. Sure his mum was distant, and annoying, and old. But he couldn't imagine she would ever be capable of something as illegal and wrong as kidnapping a little boy. Still, when someone puts an idea like that in your head, it sticks. The idea burnt inside him like one of those trick birthday candles that are impossible to blow out.

"No.. I can't, I just" He ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. "I can't imagine her doing that… and if she did…then I don't want to know. I want to find the Bings first. Then I'll get into all that."

Katie nodded. "How much do you know about your dad"  
"It wasn't him either." Danny replied sharply

"How would you know?"

"I don't… I hate the man, he abandoned mum and I. But I don't want to believe… I _can't_ believe that he would do that… Can we just drop it. Ok?"

Katie nodded "Sorry"

There was beat of awkward silence.

"What time does the plane leave" Katie asked.

Daniel smiled to himself, knowing full well that Katie knew exactly what time the plane left, but wanted to change the topic.

"Leaves at eight, the cab'll come in ten minutes."

There was another moment of silence

"Help me get my case downstairs?" Danny asked

Katie nodded quickly and the pair lugged the last of their luggage down the stairs then loaded them into the waiting cab.

"You ready?" Katie asked as they slid into the back seat.

"Yeah" Danny replied, although he sounded somewhat unsure. He stayed quiet as his mother got into the cab an he watched the house get smaller and smaller behind them. "No turning back now"


	6. Chapter 6

Though Daniel William's fourteen years of life had seen their fair share of drama and incident, he had never before woken up in the certain knowledge that he would remember this day for as long as he lived.

It was the morning of Danny's third day in New York, and although he was still horrendously jet-lagged, he found himself unable to sleep. He lay in bed with the covers drawn up to his waist and his hands resting behind his head, his bright blue eyes scanning over the tiny cracks and imperfections in the hotel room ceiling. He could hear Katie's soft, deep breathing in the bed on the other side of the room but paid it no attention. What was going to happen today?

He knew whatever happened, good or bad, he wouldn't be the same person he was when he went to bed last night. This time tomorrow he could be part of a whole new family. He could have brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles. A mum and a dad, a whole new life. Or he could have nothing. And that terrified him more than anything.

Because for all of his talk, for all of Katie's reassurances, he really had no idea what would happen today. He hoped with all his heart the Bings would accept him and believe his claims, or at least be willing to take a DNA test. He could understand if they wouldn't though, despite how sure he felt that he was their son, he still had no proof apart from a timeline that made sense and a handful of jumbled memories.

What if they didn't believe him? What if they just sent him away? Danny couldn't bear the thought. He didn't know what he would do if that happened. He had now convinced himself so completely that he was Matthew Bing he knew he wouldn't be able to handle a flat out rejection from the Bings. It hurt to even think about .

If he wasn't Matthew Bing, who was he? Who had he been before he was Daniel Williams? If it turned out he wasn't Matthew Bing he knew he would feel so lost, and so unsure. All of his instincts were telling him he was Matthew.

But at the same time, what if he _was_ Matthew? Then what? After what was sure to be a joyous reunion what would happen? Where would he live? His whole life was in London. He went to school there, his friends were there, his mum was there.

His mum.

What about her? Danny had been so caught up in the whole idea of finding his birth parents he had barely spared a thought for his mum. Would she feel Danny was trying to replace her? Guilt flooded through him. He could never replace her. As imperfect and annoying as she was she would always be his mum. But what about Chandler and Monica? Would he look to them as parents? Would they see him as their son? Or would it be an awkward, forced kind of relationship.

Danny suddenly felt claustrophobic. He wriggled out the sheets and quietly padded over to the balcony, shutting the sliding glass door behind him. The sound of cars below him soothed him. If he closed his eyes he could pretend he was home. He could pretend none of this was happening. Part of him, a small part admittedly, wished he never found that profile. His life would be so much easier if he didn't. But he knew if he didn't find out about Matthew Bing he would spend the rest of his life wondering about his past.

Danny took a deep breath of the warm summer air. He had to go see the Bings, if not for himself for Matthew's family. He owed that. Everyday that passed was another day without their son, and although Danny was years away from having any children of his own, he knew the pain of losing a child, especially in those circumstances would be immense.

He stretched and ran a hand through his hair, suddenly feeling exhausted. There was no point in worrying, he mused as he walked back inside and locked the balcony door. He couldn't change anything. He had to go. He would regret it for the rest of his life if he didn't.

And with that Danny crawled into bed, falling into a restless sleep.

* * *

"Mum please"

"No Daniel I've already told you-"

"But mum"

" _Daniel_ " Her voice took on a tone that made it clear to Danny the argument was over. He sighed in defeat and shot Katie a hopeless look, who just shrugged in a 'what can you do?' sort of way. Penelope gave one final warning look toward her son but was stopped from saying any more by the approach of a smartly dressed man. He smiled kindly as he approached the small group and stuck out a plump hand for Danny's mother to shake.

"Penelope Williams, welcome to NYU, such an honour to have you here." The man had a wheezy voice and white hair that reminded Danny of an aged dandelion clock.

"I'm honoured to be here professor Pearson" Penelope smiled before pointing to the two teenagers hanging back slightly. "This is my son Daniel and his friend Katie" She introduced, pointing to them in turn. The pair greeted him politely and shook his hand before they were led out of the building toward the lecture theatres.

"What are we gonna do?" Katie hissed as they followed the adults onto the crowded pavement. Danny shrugged weakly, his mother had said outright that they were not to leave the lecture hall at all today, which had made it decidedly more difficult for Danny to visit the Bings.

"We're just gonna have to sneak out" he whispered, trying not to draw his mother's attention. It was probably pointless, the street was so busy that she wouldn't have been able to hear their conversation even if she was trying to listen in.

"How? It's a lecture, the lights'll be on, your mum will be able to see the whole audience."

Danny swore under his breath. Today was his only chance to get away from his mum for any length of time. If they didn't go today Danny knew the whole trip would be a complete waste of time.

"Just sit as far back as we can"

"At the back! Dan-"

"Look mum got invited here by the university" He interrupted her quickly "That means she's quite a high profile guest right?"

"Yeah?" Katie replied, shooting a look at the adults ahead.

Danny lowered his voice as they walked out of the crowds and into another university building. "She's an important guest for the uni, so they'll give her a big lecture theatre to use right?"

"I guess? But what does this have to do with-"

"Kate big lecture theatres always have doors at the back, basic health and safety. So we just sit next to the door furthest away from mum."

"Yeah but Dan she'll still-" A sharp jab in the ribs interrupted her. Danny sent her a pointed look before she do anything more than look offended.

"Here's the lecture hall" The academic stopped in front of a set of large double doors. Danny peered around his mother and through the small window in the door, there had to be almost six hundred seats in there. Perfect. "The students will arrive here at nine thirty for their lecture, I'll introduce you and then you may begin. Please be prepared for many questions from the students, they are of course honoured to have a lecturer of such reputation as yourself."

Danny watched in disgust as his mother let out a laugh and placed her hand on the academic's arm.

"No problem Dr Pearson" She replied. The man turned slightly red and Danny could've sworn he giggled.

"Please, call me Arthur." At that Danny couldn't help but share a wide eyed look of horror with Katie, who bit her lip to stop from laughing.

The look of disgust didn't leave Danny's face as Dr Pearson led the group into the lecture hall and started helping Penelope set up her presentation. Katie and Danny began wandering up and down the hall, scoping out the best possible exit. The hall had two aisles going from the stage to the back wall, and a wide horizontal one halfway up. There were doors either side of the horizontal aisles at the front and middle, and another at the back.

"Where should we sit?" Katie asked quietly, very aware that her voice could carry across the room.

Danny looked around quickly.

"The doors in the middle are our best bet"

"Not the back?"

"Not if the lights are on, because we'd have to walk up the main aisle and then to the middle. If we sit near the middle door we can slip out a bit easier."

Katie nodded. "Go near the door on the left"

The pair wandered in that direction. "Why the left?" Danny asked

"Well think about it" At Danny's blank stare she rolled her eyes. "We came in on the left side and had to go through a bunch of corridors right?"

"Yeah?" Danny answered, not quite sure where she was going with this.

"Its a building full of lecture halls, I'm willing to bet the layout is the same on this floor as it is on the one below so-"

"So we can get out quicker" Danny finished for her.

Katie nodded and sent a quick look down to the two adults. Confident they weren't paying the pair of teenagers any attention she added. "And also it's a corridor, not really where people tend to congregate, especially not while lectures are going on, so it will be quiet when we open the door and won't attract your mum's attention." Danny grinned as he shuffled into the seat directly behind the door and dumped his bag on the desk. The desk was long and stretched the length of the aisle. Underneath it were two horizontal poles for students to rest their bags on.

"Dan are you mad? Why are you sitting against the wall, we'd have to get past a whole row of people. That's not subtle!"

Danny rolled his eyes "Katie look under the desk, you can fit through there right?"

Katie looked doubtful but the approach of Danny's mother stopped her voicing any of those concerns.

"Are you two settled in?" She asked them. The pair nodded as Danny started pulling out random pieces of homework his mother had forced him to bring.

"Yep, we thought we'd start with" he took a quick glance down to see what he had pulled out. "with french, right Kate?" Katie nodded and accepted a pad of paper.

Penelope looked at the pair oddly, as if she knew they were hiding something. She gave one suspicious look before shaking her head slightly.

"Ok then" she said as she pulled out some bills from her pocket. "This is for lunch, Dr Pearson has invited me to join him and some of the other professors for a meal, so I won't be joining you. The cafeteria is just down the stairs and to the right."

"Ms Williams?" Katie said quickly, "Um.. would it be alright if Dan and I stayed in the cafeteria after lunch to finish our homework? Danny promised he'd explain some maths that I just can't get my head round. And we can't talk here so…" Danny nodded beside her, going along with the lie.

Penelope studied the pair for a second then let out a breath.

"Ok" She gave half the bills to Katie, but pulled it slightly out of Danny's outstretched hand and looked him in the eyes. "Daniel stay out of trouble" She warned "I mean it, any funny business and you'll be grounded for months. Do you understand?"

Danny nodded and accepted the money with a timid 'thank you'. Guilt flooded through him and he looked at Katie out of the corner of his eye, who was suddenly very interested in her shoes. They both knew perfectly well going all the way to Westchester to tell a family you're their long lost son would probably not count as staying out of trouble.

"I'll call you when I finish at 4, then we can go out for dinner or something, sound good?"

The pair nodded and waved as she made her way to the front of the room.

It was only once she was distracted by the arrival of groups of students that Danny let himself grin.

"Brilliant, she's not expecting us back 'till four! We might actually be able to do this without her noticing."

Katie smiled and looked at the students filing in through the door in front of them. "Well if we don't get caught leaving then yeah"

"Oh don't be such a pessimist, it'll be fine" he assured her. The last few university students were trickling in at this point and the room started to go quiet as Dr Pearson introduced Penelope. Danny rummaged around in his bag for a pen and flipped to the back of his French book.

 _Give it half an hour before we start to move_

He scribbled down in is messy scrawl then passed the note to his right. Katie nodded, checking the time on her phone then grabbed the pen and wrote down in her much neater writing

 _Who's going first?_

Danny started writing and Katie looked down at the stage. Penelope was now introducing herself and talking about her work. Danny pushed the note under her nose and she grabbed the pen off him.

 _You go first, once you're out text me if the coast is clear. I'll text you if she notices, if she does come back and we can just pretend you went to the toilet or something._

Katie nodded and checked the time on her phone, showing it to Danny a second later. He nodded and shuffled in his seat slightly, moving his foot up and down between the floor and the first metal pole experimentally to test out the size of the gap. Katie was definitely small enough to wriggle through the gap, but he wasn't too sure about himself. Katie sent him a reassuring look and wrote quickly on the French book

 _It'll be fine, I'll take the bag so you don't have to worry about it._

He smiled at her and slowly, quietly started to put his books and pens into the backpack. Danny shot a quick look at his mother, who was busy explaining some sort of chart he couldn't even begin to decipher to the students. Katie started to move and he knew it was go time. Before she could shuffle out of her seat however, Danny put his hand on her shoulder.

"Put the bag down first" He whispered. She nodded and bent down in her seat, sliding the bag in the small gap between the floor and the metal pole. Danny almost laughed to himself as he wondered why something so simple as moving a bag could make him feel so anxious. He watched as his mother flipped to a new slide, his hand poised to nudge Katie if Penelope so much as looked in their direction. She then straightened up, and gave the bag one last nudge with her foot to get it onto the horizontal aisle. The metal zip from the front pocket hit the metal pole with a soft 'clang' that sounded impossibly loud as it echoed round the hall. The pair froze as a couple students looked toward the noise, but Penelope didn't look up. Almost simultaneously Danny and Katie let out sighs of relief, sharing a look before Katie started to shuffle down in her seat. She moved to the left until she was almost completely on Danny's seat, then waited as her chair flipped up, giving her more room to wiggle out. Katie moved into the new gap and sat on the floor, straightening her legs out and moving them under the horizontal pole. She shuffled under the gap and lay down once her hips passed the pole, sliding the rest of the way there. A triumphant grin broke out on her face once she was lying on the horizontal aisle and she sat up quickly, picking up the backpack and shrugging it on. The soft 'thud' of something moving in the bag made them both wince, but apart from the few students who had been watching Katie's escape with curious eyes, nobody paid it any attention.

She shuffled to the door and only stood up once she was barely a foot away, then opened the door quietly and slipped outside. Danny grinned as the door closed softly behind her and looked down at his mother. She remained oblivious to the missing teenager. The only people who seemed to notice Katie's departure were the students further down in the row, who were shooting the odd bemused look but otherwise seemed focused on the lecture.

Danny pulled his phone out of his pocket and once checking it was on silent, sent Katie a text confirming her exit had gone unnoticed. The five minutes he sat waiting for Katie to reply felt more like five hours. Every one of his mother's movements put him on more phone finally lit up softly, but Danny's smile changed into a frown as he read it.

 _There's a huge group of people just outside left door, use right or she'll notice._

Danny bit his lip as he ran a hand through his hair. He would have to cross the two aisles to get to the door on the right hand side. He knew that if he crawled right behind the last row of seats in front of the horizontal aisle he wouldn't be seen by his mother unless she caught him crossing the gap between the columns of seats. He just prayed that the inevitable stares of the people sitting on the upper section of the lecture hall wouldn't draw her attention. Danny started to slide out his seat and onto the floor while he pondered what to do. He could try crawl along the horizontal aisles and pray he wasn't caught by his mother. Or he could just walk out. He knew walking out would be obvious and he would be seen, but it's not like his mother could just stop a lecture to ask him where he was going. He knew that this lecture would end at half twelve, when she would then go for lunch with the Professors here. He could just send her a text to say he was going to the cafeteria or something.

Danny slowly slid underneath the bar, and for once in his life was thankful he was small and skinny. He crawled to the seats in front of him where he knew he was out of view and then moved to the first aisle. He poked his head around and waited until she turned to face the screen before he shuffled across. The waited for any indication that she had noticed. A falter in her speech, or a pause. Nothing. With a sigh of relief he quick crawled to the next aisle and waited. With every minute that passed Danny felt more and more tense. He was waiting for his mother to start explaining a graph, or turn on a video. He could feel the eyes of the students sitting in the back section of the theatre on him, but paid them no attention. He just hoped that his other wouldn't either.

Danny had been sitting there for almost ten minutes when he finally heard his mother heels clicking against the wooden stage. He knew this meant she was going to her computer and would pay the crowd no attention. Before he could overthink what he was about to do he jumped up and almost ran to the door, slipping through it and closing it as softly and quickly as he could. He didn't look back to see if his mother had noticed his exit but ran around the corner and to Katie, who was leaning against the wall.

"Did she notice you left?" Katie asked, as she quickly handed him his backpack.

"Don't know, let's get out of here though." The pair walked, almost ran down the corridor and around a corner, then straight into something. It was only when the object let out an exclamation of surprise that Danny realised they had walked straight into a person. The man's briefcase flew out of his hand and landed on the floor with a mighty crash. It burst open and papers flew everywhere, skidding across the mercifully empty corridor.

"Sorry sir!" The pair exclaimed simultaneously as they quickly picked up the scattered papers.

"Are you alright sir?" Katie asked as she handed the man a pile of paper. "I'm sorry, Are you ok?"

The man looked up from his hunched position on the floor and at Katie. He had dark brown hair, with flecks of grey here and there. Round, wire glasses covered his large brown eyes

"It's fine" The man said with a kind smile and started brushing off his clothes as he accepted the papers.

Danny approached from behind Katie with his own pile of papers. "Are you sure you're ok sir?"

"Yes, don't worry I'm-" The man froze when he laid eyes on the younger boy, his smile faltering slightly. He was staring with a shocked expression at Danny, who was starting to feel uncomfortable under his gaze. If he noticed Danny's discomfort he didn't do anything, but continued to look searchingly.

Katie cleared her throat and the man snapped out of his trance, a touch of red on his cheeks. He missed the grateful look Danny sent Katie as he accepted the pile of papers from Danny's outstretched arms.

"I'm fine, are you guys ok?" He asked quickly, his eyes going back to Danny with a curious expression on his face. Danny looked at the man with his eyebrows scrunched up a little, he couldn't help but feel he looked familiar, a bit like when he recognised an actor on TV, but couldn't place what he'd seen them in before. He had no idea why he felt that way about the man though.

"We're fine" Katie answered for the two of them, handing over the last of the paper. There was an awkward pause and the man scratched the back of his head. He looked like he wanted to say something. But didn't know what. He pointed to the left " Well I should-"

Danny and Katie nodded and moved out his way. "Sorry again for running into you" Katie added as he closed his briefcase and walked past them. "Oh and sir?" He turned around, his eyes going to Danny even though it was Katie who was talking. "Umm do you mind telling us how we can get to Washington Square Park?"

He nodded and gave them some quick directions before getting one last look at Danny. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments and something clicked in Danny's mind. He knew this man. He didn't know how, or where from. But he was certain he knew the man. The man broke the eye contact first. He looked confused, but Danny could see a flicker of pain in his eyes.

He then walked round the corner and out of sight. Katie waited until her and Danny had made their way out the building before she said anything.

"That was weird, the man was looking at you like he'd seen a ghost!"

Danny just nodded, not quite sure what to think of their run in with the man. Something about him was familiar, he just didn't know what. "Yeah" He agreed quietly.

Katie looked at him oddly. "You don't know him do you?"

"I…I don't know" The confused look was still there from when he first looked at the man. "He looked… familiar." Danny was absorbed in his own thoughts but didn't fail to notice the looks Katie was sending him. He knew if he looked at her she would start to question him, so he kept his eyes firmly on the ground. He wandered into a nearby Starbucks without even thinking about it. He could still feel Katie's eyes on him, but as they got in line she seemed to realise he wasn't going to talk. After a bit of confusion from Katie, ("All the money looks exactly the same, how am I supposed to know which bill is which?") they bought a drink each and wandered into the park.

"Ok we have six hours before we need to meet mum back here" Danny stated, pulling up a map on his phone. "Two hours to get there and two hours to get back."  
"Two hours?" Katie asked incredulously as they found a spot in the shade and sat down. "It won't take that long will it?"

"Probably not, but neither of us know where we really are, and it gives us time to get lost."

Katie nodded. "So that gives us- well you- two hours to convince the Bings"

Danny took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. "Yep"

Katie looked at her best friend. He was swirling the ice in the bottom of his drink around, looking the people around him go about their business.

"What are you gonna say to them?" She asked. Danny let out a breath and shook his head.

"I still don't know, how do you tell someone you're their lost long son? I can't exactly go up to them and go hi, sorry to bother you, but I think I'm Matthew Bing."

There was a loud gasp behind them, making their heads whip back towards the noise. The man they had run into earlier was standing behind them, half behind a tree.

"Matthew?" He breathed just loud enough for them to hear. He walked towards the pair, looking completely shocked. "Is it you?"

* * *

 **I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to update! I re-wrote this entire chapter because I** **wasn't happy with where it was going. I'm still not too happy but I want to just get it out the way so I can move onto a more interesting part.**

 **Either way I hope you enjoy, and thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed or favourited. It's unbelievably encouraging and just makes me want to write more.**

 **ChocoholiclikeLupin x**


	7. Chapter 7

Danny and Katie both froze, their necks turned back to the man at such an angle that was almost painful. It was Katie who moved first, prompting Danny to stand up. The stranger was once again studying Danny, his eyes scanning over his face with complete concentration.

"Matthew?" He asked. Danny didn't know what to do. He expected to have another couple hours to figure out how to convince someone, not have it thrust upon him by a total stranger.

"You know Matthew?" Danny asked, choosing to answer his question with a question instead of getting into a complicated ramble about who he could be. Plus he could try and suss out who this man was.

"The whole country knows who Matthew Bing is" The sharpness of the man's voice took Danny by surprise. He unconsciously took a step closer to Katie.

"No…I just meant, you sound like someone more involved than a person who just saw it on the news" He ventured carefully. He was very aware that one wrong word could send the man away.

The man looked at Danny for a long moment, unease and disbelief flickered across his face.

"Matthew was my nephew"

"Was?" The word slipped out before Danny could help himself. He winced when anger flooded the older man's features.

"Yes was. He's been missing eleven years. Children missing that long never turn up alive. My sister needs to let go. He's not coming back." Danny shared an alarmed look with Katie, the anger in the man's face was increasing with every word he spoke. "She needs to let go, they both do. Matthew can't…he won't just.." He looked at Danny with what Danny could only describe as loathing in his face. "You…How dare you. You're not Matthew, how could you be? Matthew's been missing since he was three. I'm not going to just run into him in the middle of Washington Square Park." The man was now shouting. "You can't be him. You're not him. He's dead."

Anger sparked behind the man's eyes before he stormed off in the other direction. Danny was so shocked by the outburst that the man got almost twenty feet away before he could think to do anything.

He ran after him "Please, just let me explain."

The man stopped and turned around. "I don't need an explanation. You're not him"

The hate in his eyes made Danny shrink back slightly, but he refused to let this man, whoever he was, leave without letting him explain. "What if I am? Please sir just-"

"You're not him" With that the man turned and walked to the gate. Danny didn't follow this time, but shouted over the din of birds and traffic.

"How can you be so sure?" The man stopped but didn't turn around. "What if I'm really Matthew and you've just stopped your sister from being with her son?"

"Don't you even mention my sister!" His voice was low and filled with spite. He turned and looked Danny in the eyes. As blue met brown Danny saw a change. A glimmer of hope underneath all the anger and disbelief. The strange man tore his eyes away before he could look to much into it. "My sister has been through enough shit without you walking in there pretending to be Matthew. She's been to hell and back. They both have. You're not welcome. They don't need some…some _imposter_ claiming to be Matthew."

"Why?" Danny heard himself shoot back. He wasn't quite sure where the courage had suddenly come from, he wasn't one to ever shout at an adult, much less a stranger. But he knew just what was at stake if he didn't. "Why can't I be Matthew?"

"You're not Matthew!"

"Why? Why won't you even consider it!?"

"You're not him"

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because Matthew is dead!" The older man shouted. In that moment he let his guard down and tears pricked his eyes. Danny could see the torment he'd suffered within. "He's dead, he's gone. He can't…he won't…" The man's voice faded out as he wiped a stray tear with his shirt sleeve.

"Please….Just leave" He said finally. He took one last long, searching look at Danny. Sadness and disbelief mellowing the anger.

Danny didn't know what to do. The man was walking away quickly so he ran in pursuit before he could overthink the decision.

"Please sir" he said, just loud enough for the man to hear. "If I'm not Matthew, then I'm not Matthew, but please just hear me out. I would never, _ever_ have come all this way if I wasn't completely sure. And I would never put your sister, or anyone, through that pain if I wasn't so sure it was true." The older man had stopped moving and now he and Danny were standing a metre apart. "Sir please hear me out. I know it's unbelievable, I get it. But I can show you old photos, my adoption certificate, anything. Just _please_ listen."

The stranger studied Danny for a long moment and looked into his pleading blue eyes. He looked hesitant over what to say. Something seemed to click and he let out a breath.

"Your accent, Matthew was American. You've got a British accent."

"Yeah…" Danny began hesitantly, he wasn't quite sure what he was expecting the man to say, but it wasn't that. "I live in London, I've lived there since I was adopted."

"Where did you live before?"

Danny let out a breath of relief that the man was talking and hadn't walked away. "I don't know. It was a closed adoption so nobody really knows anything. I think I was from America, or had American parents. I had a bit more of an American accent when I was first adopted."

The man looked at Danny with furrowed eyebrows. "And when was that?"  
"December 2012."

He looked curiously at Danny, there was emotion in his eyes Danny couldn't quite place "What's your name?"

"Danny…well Daniel" He ran and hand through his hair. "Daniel Williams."

The man nodded and started fiddling with his tie. He looked as through he had a million questions to ask, but didn't know where to start. Danny noticed his hesitation and remembered he still didn't know who this man was, other than Matthew's uncle.

"What's your name?"

"Ross Geller" Danny stuck his hand out for Ross to shake. He looked slightly surprised at the gesture but shook Danny's hand firmly anyway.

There was a beat of silence where Ross looked anywhere but at Danny. "Look I don't…I mean…you have to understand Matthew's been missing a very long time and I can't…I'll listen to you but…" He hesitated and looked at Danny again. "The police have spent years looking for him, and have never got very far. There have been sightings, thousands of them. And a couple that everyone was so sure was Matthew. But it never was."

He paused and started fiddling with his tie again. "And every time the police were so sure it was Matthew, only for it to turn out to be some random kid….It broke them. And…they can't go through that again, I won't let them go through that again. They're not…they're not strong enough to go through it again."

Ross looked slightly surprised in himself that he had said all that, and Danny suspected it wasn't the kind of thing he talked about very often, much less to a stranger. He nodded and once it looked like the man was not going to say anymore he started to speak. "I understand that sir, just please hear me out. If you don't believe me then…" He met Ross's eyes, not quite believing what he was saying "Then I'll leave your sister and her family alone. Just please…listen."

Then man looked long and hard at Danny, searching perhaps for any sign that he was lying. Finding nothing he nodded and looked up at the murky grey clouds looming overhead.

"Ok" He hesitated "Um…Let's talk indoors, it looks like it's gonna rain."

Danny nodded and gestured at Katie, who had been standing a couple metres back. She introduced herself to a distracted Ross and the pair fell in step behind him. They followed him out of the park and through busy streets. Ross checked over his shoulder to see if they were following occasionally, but otherwise seemed absorbed in thought.

Ross led them into a small cafe just as the rain went from a light shower to a downpour and gestured to a small table near the window wordlessly.

"Do you guys want anything?" He asked.

Danny shook his head but Katie asked for a glass of water. He nodded and left Danny and Katie alone to join the queue.

"Can you stop that?" Katie asked, placing a firm hand on Danny's knee to stop his constant leg jerking. He smiled apologetically and ran an hand through his hair.

"Sorry…I'm just.."

"Nervous?" Katie finished for him. He nodded and pulled out his phone to check the time. His mother had probably noticed they were gone by now, but Danny couldn't bring himself to care. She wouldn't stop for lunch for another hour and a half anyway. Ross walked over and sat in the worn armchair opposite Danny and Katie and all thoughts of his mother left his mind.

He handed over Katie's water, who accepted it with a quiet 'thanks'.

There was silence, nobody really knew where to start. Ross hesitated and took a sip of his coffee. "Can you just…just start from the beginning. How did you find out about Matthew"

Danny nodded and started to explain.

"It started with a school project…" He explained everything in as much detail as he could. He described how they found Matthew's profile on the missing children's website, and then about all the research they had done in the case. He talked about his mother's job and how they got to New York, the photos and various legal documents they had brought, then anything else he could think of. The longer he talked the less disbelief he could see in Ross's eyes.

The older man looked emotional as Danny finished speaking. "You..you said you had photos?"

Danny nodded and pulled an iPad from his backpack. He opened up an album of photos of him when he was younger and clicked on the first one. The photo had been taken on his fifth birthday, he was smiling cheekily up at the camera with icing all over his face. His hair had been slightly lighter then, but it was still as messy as ever.

Danny handed over the device "There's a whole album of them, just scroll through."

Ross nodded and accepted the iPad, he took a sharp intake of breath when he lay eyes on the photo. He looked at it for a long moment then scrolled through the rest of them, studying each one.

"How old were you here?" Ross asked quietly, flipping the iPad around so Danny and Katie could see. The photo was one of the oldest Danny could find. It was taken just after Danny's forth birthday, two months after he was adopted. In it he was standing next to a small snowman with a proud grin on his face.

"I'd just turned four" Ross nodded and looked back to the iPad.

"When's your birthday?" He asked quietly, not taking his eyes off the photo on the screen.

"8th of January." Ross nodded again and whispered under his breath. "Two weeks before Matthew's." Danny wasn't sure if he was talking to them or not so stayed quiet. He shared a quick look with Katie as Ross continued to flick through the photos.

"Oh my god" Ross whispered under his breath. He was staring at a photo in disbelief. He looked at Danny then back down to the photo. Danny lent over the table to see what photo the older man was looking at. Ross didn't even notice, his eyes still fixed on the picture.

The photo was an old one, he was four and a half and was grinning up at the camera with wide blue eyes. He knew why Ross was so fixated on the photo, it was eerily similar to the one on Matthew's missing person profile. Ross looked up at Danny and studied him for a long moment. Tears were pooling in his brown eyes. He put the iPad down and stood up. Danny followed without thinking about it.

Ross walked slowly around the small table and Danny could see a mixture of disbelief, shock and joy in his eyes. Without another word he pulled Danny into a strong hug and sobbed.

"Oh my god Matthew" He wept. "How…it's _you_ …oh my god."

He released Danny from the hug but held onto his shoulders. "How… _Matthew…_ I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… I thought you were dead…You were dead… And now you're here…You look so much like Chandler…So familiar..." His blubbering became incomprehensible as he pulled Danny back into the warm hug, completely oblivious to the stares and curious looks the other customers were giving them. Danny reciprocated the hug somewhat awkwardly, but Ross didn't seem to notice.

He realised Danny again and looked around in disbelief. "Can I just….just to be a hundred percent sure."

Danny nodded and looked expectantly at him.  
"Matthew had a scar on his chin, and a birthmark…" Danny nodded and tilted up his head to show the scar that had been there for as long as he could remember. Ross smiled, looking relieved.

"I've also got a scar on my knee, and a birthmark on my chest. But I'd rather not…" Ross nodded and seemed to remember that they were in a public place. He smiled and retook his seat, now without a doubt in his mind that it was Matthew sitting opposite him.

"I need to call Mon, she doesn't work today, and I'm pretty sure Chandler's working from home. Joey should be there too, he's visiting from LA, but he might've gone to see one of his sisters. I should call Rach too" He added, looking up at Danny. Danny nodded, even though he was certain Ross was talking to himself. He had no idea who Joey or Rach were anyway.

Ross turned his attention back to his phone and Katie grinned up at him, he returned the smile, relief coursing through his veins. He had been right. He was Matthew. He thanked his lucky stars Ross had listened to him and didn't just walk away. He thanked his lucky stars he ran into Ross full stop.

Ross held his phone to his ear with his right hand, using the left to scroll through more pictures on the iPad.

"Mon" He started, his voice chocked up with emotion. Although Danny couldn't make out the woman's words he could hear the concerned tone of her voice. "No Mon, nothing's wrong. Mon it's Matthew." The other side of the phone went silent. "Mon I've got him, I'm sure it's him, he… he looks just like Chandler." The other side of the phone was still silent, however this didn't seem to bother Ross. "Mon, I'll bring him over, He can explain…just…I'll be there in half and hour." The phone disconnected and Ross stood up, wiped his eyes and gestured for Danny and Katie to follow.

"Come on, I'm taking you to Monica and Chandler's."

* * *

 **Of course the mysterious man was Ross! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed or favourited. I can't explain just how encouraging it is. The response to the last chapter was incredible and I really hope this lived up to your expectations.**

 **ChocoholiclikeLupin x**


	8. Chapter 8

Danny felt a bit as if he'd drunk a six pack of Red Bull. Full of energy, but completely sick to his stomach. His leg was bouncing incessantly and he could feel Katie's eyes on him but couldn't bring himself to stop. Ross was glancing at him every couple of minutes through the rearview mirror and he was tempted to ask him to stop, but didn't want to break the tense silence that had engulfed the car. Instead Danny closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the cool glass of the window. He tried to remember as much as he could about Monica and Chandler. Their voices, their smiles. Anything. The same thought kept running through his head.

 _Everything will be ok when I see them._

Of course he didn't know that, but it was the only thing he could think of to try calm himself down. His heart rate tripled as the car pulled off the motorway and into smaller, busier streets. He knew they were close. The car eventually turned off onto to a high street. As they passed little clothes shops, and diners with bar stools lined up against the window his eyes scanned over every shop, every restaurant to see if he could recognise anything. Dread filled his stomach when nothing looked familiar.

The car slowed as they turned off the high street and made their way through a maze of quiet suburban streets. Danny was so nervous now he felt sick. His breath was coming in short, sharp gasps.

He checked himself in the rearview mirror and winced. God he looked terrible. Drawn, ash-white face with rough, red raw patches on the cheeks. He wanted to ask Ross to put the air-con up, but the more nervous he got the less able he felt to say anything at all.

He knew that it was illogical to be this nervous anyway, Ross seemed confident enough that he was Matthew to bring him to Westchester. But horrible what ifs kept running through his head. What if they didn't believe him? What if he had been wrong? What if they wanted nothing to do with him?

Katie must've noticed his face go even paler because she nudged him gently with her arm. "Hey. You okay Dan?"

Danny nodded, unable to speak. Katie smiled sympathetically and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "It'll be fine Danny, don't worry."

He smiled, but was sure it probably came out as more of a grimace.

With a crunch of gears Ross stopped the car. As he switched of the engine there was a deafening silence. Danny could feel the blood pounding in his ears.

"Here we are" Ross said.

Danny sat glued to his seat as Ross got out. He opened the back door and Danny slid out slowly, somehow forcing his legs to moved to stand on the pavement. He looked up at the house. It was big- bigger than his one at home, with a large, neatly mown front lawn. The tree towards the front of the garden was golden leaved, and glittered in the midday sun. A sense of familiarity washed over him that he knew had nothing to do with the countless videos and photos he had seen of this house. This house had once been home.

He stood, his hands shaking and stared at the brick path that led to the front door. He heard footsteps that were too heavy to be Katie's walk up behind him, and Ross placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Come on" He said gently and led Danny up the path.

The path was only ten or so metres long, but it seemed to stretch on for eternity. The magnitude of what was about to happen hit Danny like a tonne of bricks, and he couldn't stop himself trembling even more violently. Ross must have noticed because he gave Danny's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. He shot one last look over his shoulder at Katie before Ross reached up and rang the doorbell.

The door opened immediately, the woman must have been waiting on the other side.

The first thing that Danny noticed was how tired she looked. It wasn't the kind of tired that needed a good nights sleep, but the kind that was ever-present. It was a tiredness that was an ingrained part of a life that wasn't lived, but survived, endured.

Ross hadn't been lying, one look at her face and Danny knew this woman had been to hell and back.

Her hair hung limply to her shoulder blades. It was dark brown, almost black, but a few grey hairs were visible at the roots. The small amount of makeup she wore failed to cover up the fine wrinkles on her forehead and around her eyes and mouth. Her eyes were what caught Danny's attention. They were the eyes of someone much older than herself, tired eyes. But they were so familiar. _So_ familiar. It was like looking into a mirror. The shape, the colour, the way they sloped up ever so slightly on the sides. Everything.

And in that moment they held so much emotion. Confusion, fear but most evidently hope. Danny was sure his eyes held a similar mix.

"Matthew" she breathed, so quietly Danny couldn't be sure he hadn't imagined it. She cleared her throat. "I'll go…just…I'll get Chandler"

Her eyes finally tore away from Danny's face and she walked quickly towards the back of the house. Ross still had a grip on Danny's shoulder and led him into a cosy living room. Danny looked over the numerous photos that decorated the walls. Most of them were of two people, a girl and a boy, with light brown, almost blond hair and brown eyes. The pictures showed them together and apart, as they grew from chubby little babies to tall, good looking young adults. There was the odd wedding photo in the mix. And a couple of old photos of a smiling group of six in a room with purple walls. The rest of the photos were of a brown haired, blue eyed little boy. Him.

The biggest photo hung over the mantelpiece. The smiling blue eyed toddler was sat in between the two brown eyed children. A parent was on either side of them. The whole family looked carefree, happy. Completely unaware their world was soon to be shattered.

Ross gently pushed Danny down into and armchair and let go of his shoulder.

"I'm just gonna go get them" He walked off in the same direction as Monica and left Danny and Katie alone. Katie perched on the arm of the chair and looked at Danny.

"Everything will be fine Dan" She said quietly, sounding like a mother comforting a child. "Stop worrying so much. You could see it in her face. She knew exactly who you were."

Danny looked up at her and nodded in thanks. Still too nervous to talk. Katie smiled and Danny knew she understood. The pair winced as they heard low, angry voices from the next room. Danny was terrified.

Ross finally strode in, followed by a dark haired middle aged man. Monica and another man walked in last. Danny briefly wondered where they all came from before deciding it wasn't important. He rested his eyes on the couple near the back of the group. Monica and Chandler Bing.

"Is that him?" Chandler said, walking over to Danny. He gripped his shoulder bringing Danny's eyes to him. There was something almost desperate in his eyes. "Who are you?" He shook Danny's shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

The woman put her hand over his. "It's Matthew, Chandler," She breathed, just loud enough for everyone else in the room to hear her. "I really think it is"

There was a beat of silence at her words before pandemonium broke out. Everyone in the room started talking at once. Chandler began shouting at Monica, completely ignoring Danny.

"This isn't him Monica. It can't be. He's not just going to walk in—"

"It is, he has." Monica cried, tears falling down her face. Chandler's face softened slightly as he moved his hand from Danny's shoulder to wipe a tear from his wife's face.

"Stop it Mon, stop it. I can't take it if its not him, I can't cope." He said in an almost broken whisper.

Monica clutched at his arm "Look at him Chandler, look at him. He looks just like you."

The man didn't seem to hear her: "I can't take this, Mon," He repeated, his face twisted in agony. "I can't lose him again"

Danny's heart was hammering. Whatever he'd imagined finding his birth family would be like, it wasn't like this. He didn't want to be there anymore. But his legs felt rooted to the spot. He shot a helpless look at Katie who tried to smile comfortingly, but she couldn't quite hide the uncertainty in her eyes. The volume in the room started to rise even more.

"Please stop shouting," Danny said. But the words were drowned out in the voices that surrounded him.

And then a deep voice boomed over all the others. "QUIET"

Everyone spun round.

"Ross" the dark haired man began.

'No Joey" He replied "I think perhaps everyone should calm down and listen to Daniel."

Danny shot him a grateful look and swallowed nervously, he could feel everyone's curious eyes burning into him and shrunk back a fraction. Clearly noticing his distress, he felt Katie give his hand a reassuring squeeze before he swallowed nervously and took a deep breath.

"Ummm…Well it started with a school project we had to do, we had to find and research the case of a missing child and then present it. It started when a girl from our school went missing like forty years-" Katie cleared her throat and gave him a pointed look, telling him without saying anything he was rambling. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, tousling it even further. "Anyway not important… we had to find the case of a missing child, so I just typed in Daniel..I wasn't really thinking…and I stumbled on the profile of Matthew Daniel Bing" He looked up at Monica and noticed a lone, renegade tear fall down her cheek at the mention of her son. "And the picture of this little boy came up. He looked exactly like me when I was around that age. I've got pictures if you want to see. And then I saw how he went missing in September 2012. I was adopted at the beginning of December that year. And from there things just started to fall into place. We spent hours and hours finding out all we could about the case, and things just kept adding up. It all made sense. It all fit. Katie found the video of you appealing for Matthew, and you just looked so… _familiar,_ I didn't know why. But I was convinced then that I was Matthew. So we kept going, researching the case, trying to find anything that might contradict any vague things I could remember, or the timeline we'd put together, but nothing ever did."

Danny paused for a moment, trying to collect his muddled thoughts, before he resumed his story. He talked in as much detail about everything he could, about his memories from before he was adopted, which were now becoming slightly less hazy. He talked about how he had an American accent when he was adopted and about how he had always wanted to find his birth parents. He went on to describe how he and Katie had slowly built a profile of Matthew Bing, and how they decided that they had to go to New York. He talked until his throat was dry and his voice hoarse. This was his only chance to really prove to them he was Matthew Bing, and he would be damned if he let this opportunity go to waste.

Once or twice, someone made a noise as though about to say something, but he would keep talking, because it was easier to keep going now that he had started. It was even a relief; he felt as if a giant lead weight was being lifted from his shoulders.

He was met with silence when he finished his story, but was grateful to see that the looks of anger and disbelief had changed to something softer, more thoughtful.

"You…you said you had memories of before you were adopted" the blue eyed man- Chandler- said, resting his curious eyes on Danny. "What were they?"

"None of them were ever anything concrete, anything very fixed. They all were like flashes of things, certain images that just stuck in my head that I could never explain. The only real sort of…clear, memory I have is playing outside a house. I waved to a…woman on the front porch." Danny paused, before deciding that he wouldn't mention he thought the woman on the porch all those years ago was the very same woman standing by the TV, her crystal blue eyes boring into him. "I don't really remember what happened then. But I remember a man coming out of the van and then…pain…I don't remember anything after that."

There was a collective gasp at his words, they had clearly all made the connection between his story and Matthew's kidnapping.

"Anything else?" Chandler asked softly. Danny could see a glimmer of hope in his eyes, something that hadn't been there five minutes previous.

"This isn't a memory as such, but when I was six or seven I fell out a tree and smacked my head, knocked myself out for a good eight or nine hours. When I woke up in hospital I kept asking mum who Matthew was." He missed the momentary flash of pain that came across Monica's face at the mention of his mother. "She had no idea, freaked her out to be honest. I guess she thought he was someone who I met at school or something. I let it go eventually. I actually forgot about it until now"

Silence met his words and Danny ran a hand through his hair. He looked across the room and made eye contact with Chandler and found himself unable to look away, trapped in his gaze. Something came across Chandler's face. Shock? Excitement? Disbelief? Danny couldn't quite tell. Chandler turned his head towards his wife and looked into her eyes for a moment, then back at Danny again. He cleared his throat, everyone in the room's eyes now on him. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Your eyes" He started, his voice and body trembling. "Your eyes are the exact same colour as my wife's. The _exact_ same. Same colour, same shape. Just like my son's were." He took a shaky breath before continuing, tears now streaming down his face. "A person ages, they change, their face changes, their body changes. But the eyes, the eyes never change. _Ever._ They don't age." He stopped and took a step closer to Danny, studying him for a second, and taking a deep breath.

"Matthew," He breathed, and closed the gap between them, pulling Danny into his arms. Danny could feel his tears soaking into his shirt as Chandler's strong arms, his _father's_ strong arms wrapped around him for the first time since he was three years old. He let out a watery laugh, unable to keep his own tears at bay. In an instant a smaller pair of arms wrapped around him, and he felt a kiss being pressed into his hair.

"Matthew" She sobbed, sinking down to her knees and bringing her husband and son with her. "Oh my sweet baby boy. We found you, we found you. You're safe. You're home." She stopped, unable to continue as a fresh wave of tears cascaded down her face.

The three of them sobbed into each other's shoulders, completely oblivious to the warm smiles and disbelieving laughter being shared by three people around them.

Monica was the first to stand up, and Chandler and Danny followed. She wiped her watery eyes with her sleeve and gently took Danny's face in her hands, studying it.

"Oh sweetie" she whispered with a sob "You're safe, you're home" She pulled him into another hug and Danny looked up at Chandler, who was watching the scene with watery eyes.

The second Monica released Danny from the hug he was pulled into a unfamiliar pair of strong arms. He let out a small 'oomph' as the man lifted him off the floor with the power of it.

"I missed you little man" He said tearfully.

"Joe you're crushing him" Danny heard Chandler say. The man immediately loosened his grip on Danny, but didn't let go. He looked up at the stranger and felt the same sense of familiarity wash over him as he did when he first saw Ross.

"What happened to you?" Joey asked, finally releasing him from the bone crushing hug and looking him in the eyes. Danny hesitated, not quite sure where to start. He looked at Katie, who had moved to the corner of the room, looking on at the scene with a soft smile. Following his gaze it was only then that the rest of the group seemed to remember Katie was even there. They all made polite yet hurried introductions and focussed back on Danny.

Danny didn't know what to say. A small part of him couldn't believe he was here. Couldn't believe they had accepted him so easily.

"So…" He had to ask "So you believe me?"

"Oh sweetie" Monica breathed. She had Danny back in her arms almost immediately. "I knew…I knew from the second I saw you, you are my son." She released him and gently cupped his face, forcing two pairs of identical blue eyes to meet. The corners of Danny's mouth raised ever so slightly.

"We'll have to do a DNA test" Chandler said. "But I think we know what the results are going to be."

Danny smiled and Chandler pulled him into his arms. He relaxed almost immediately, relieved they believed him, and had accepted him so easily.

Ross smiled at the scene and cleared his throat. "Dan has a bunch of photos you'll want to see"

Danny nodded and Chandler released him. He smiled in thanks as Katie passed him the iPad.

"Are you guys hungry? Thirsty?" Monica asked. She stood and walked towards the back of the house. Joey followed immediately and Chandler and Ross shared a knowing look.

"Joey loves food" Chandler explained, rolling his eyes. "He eats more than Mon, the twins and I do put together"

"The twins?" Danny asked. Chandler looked upset for a moment but quickly smiled to cover it up.

"Jack and Erica" He said, pointing to a picture of the pair sitting on a side table. "They're at college now. They'll be thrilled when we tell them you're home. They missed their little brother."

Chandler looked away from Danny and he could tell he was on the brink of tears.

"Come on" He said, his voice trembling ever so slightly. "Let's go join your mom."

Danny nodded and followed him into a large kitchen. It was similar to his at home. Large and impeccable ordered. But unlike his one at home this one was warm and welcoming. It looked lived in. The counters were clear except for a few machines that Danny couldn't begin guess what they did. He guessed someone in this house was a keen chef.

Chandler indicated he join Joey at the kitchen table as Monica placed a plate of cookies in front of them and sat down. Chandler sat next to her, opposite Katie and Danny. Ross took the remaining seat opposite Joey.

"This is the oldest one I've got" Danny said, holding out the iPad. Judging by Ross' quiet exclamation of surprise it wasn't one he had seen.

"Oh my god" Monica covered her mouth with her hands and Danny could see tears in her eyes. Chandler and Joey gasped. "How old were you here?"

"Three. That was Christmas 2012, must have been a week or two after I was adopted."

"Matthew" Monica breathed, running a finger over the picture on the screen. They stared at it for a long moment before swiping to the next photo. Danny craned his neck to get a better view. It was taken on Danny's first day of school. He was standing outside his front door with a nervous little smile on his face, dressed in his tiny blue school uniform.

"You were so cute" Monica laughed, wiping away a tear. Chandler flicked to the next photo. The adults spent a minute or two studying every photo, asking Danny questions which he tried his best to answer.

"You have a dog?" Chandler asked, looking at a photo of a beaming eight year old Danny holding a squirming puppy.

"Yeah. He's called Gatsby and he's like ten times that size now."

Chandler grinned "Gatsby like the great Gatsby?"

"Exactly. Mum got him for me when she started lecturing abroad more. Something to keep me company."

Chandler, Ross and Joey nodded but Monica looked concerned.

"Does she lecture abroad often?"

Danny shrugged. "Depends, usually once every two months. It doesn't really bother me."

Monica nodded but didn't look as if she believed him. She looked at Danny who couldn't help but squirm under her gaze. He reached over to flick to the next photo to try change her focus. Monica studied Danny for another moment before deciding he wasn't going to say anything more and brought her attention back onto the photos. She smiled at the image.

"I was six in that photo" He said before anyone could ask. "We were on holiday in the South of France"

The adults all nodded and studied the photo with soft smiles. In it Danny was sitting by a large sandcastle in only swimming trunks.

"You've got the birthmark." Chandler murmured under his breath, Danny nodded even through he was sure Chandler was talking to himself. He flicked to the next photo. It was taken on the same holiday. Danny was sitting next to his mother on a deck chair, both of them sipping on a drink. He briefly wondered who had taken the photo but Monica's question interrupted him.

"That's your mom?" Monica asked. She winced as if the word 'mom' pained her.

Danny nodded. "Yep that's mum. She was lecturing at NYU today, which is actually how we ran into Ross"

Ross laughed quietly to himself, bringing everyone's eyes to him. "And by 'ran into Ross' he literally means run into me. He's stronger than he looks. Knocked me over and sent my papers flying all over the corridor"

The others laughed at the image while Kate and Danny shuffled their feet guilty. Neither could quite hide the small mischievous grins that appeared however.

"Sorry" They mumbled.

Ross rolled his eyes while Chandler grinned and picked up the iPad to flick to the next picture. Danny continued to explain as much as he could about each picture. They scrolled through dozens of photos until eventually they reached the last photo in the album. It was an old one, Danny couldn't have been older than five. He was looking up at the camera with his signature cheeky grin. A tall, gangly man with blond hair and stormy grey eyes towered above Danny. He was smiling, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Who's that?" Chandler asked. His face held a curious expression that Danny couldn't place.

Danny ran an hand through his hair. "That was my father"

"Was?" Monica asked, looking up at Danny. Chandler kept his eyes fixed on the photo.

"He…um…he walked out when I was five. I haven't seen or heard from him since"

"I'm sorry" Monica said, looking genuinely upset. Chandler said nothing, still fixated on the photo. Danny saw Monica nudge him under the table. He looked up at her with the same curious expression on his face as earlier. Monica's eyebrows furrowed.

"What's wrong?"

Everyone was looking at Chandler now with a mix of concern and confusion. Dread filled Danny's stomach. What had his father done for Chandler react like this?

"I've…I've seen that face before." He got up from the table and ran upstairs, leaving a bewildered group behind him. They sat in silence until Chandler came down two minutes later with a file in his hand.

"I knew I recognised him" He said to himself. He retook his seat and flipped to the first page. "It was in the box of evidence and documents the police gave us."

Monica looked alarmed. Chandler flipped the file around and pointed to a picture. Danny's eyebrows raised when he saw I was a picture of his father.

"That's your father?" Chandler asked. The room was silent as Danny nodded.

"Yeah that's…that's him." Questions exploded in Danny's head like fireworks. What had his father done? He must have been involved somehow in the kidnapping for him to be investigated by the police. Anger flooded through him. How could he? How could this man take him away from Monica and Chandler and then leave before Danny even turned six. He frowned as he looked over the file.

"That's him but it says here his name is Simon Vesper"

Chandler nodded with a frown. "And?"

"My father was called John Haddigan"

* * *

 **I am so sorry that took so long to update! Thank you all for your patience. I'm going to try update quicker next time but my life is crazy busy at the moment.**

 **Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it**

 **ChocoholiclikeLupin x**


	9. Chapter 9

The chill of the tiled wall where Danny was resting his head was slowly turning the left side of his face numb. But he was too tired to care. Katie had gone, Ross had gone, the Bings and Joey had gone. He was completely alone.

He was at the police station, and had been talking to an FBI agent for almost two hours. Chandler had had to call them after Danny had recognised his father in the police files. They had all been separated and Danny had been here since.

MJ Cooper was tall with a long, horselike face and grey hair tied in a tight bun atop her head. Danny liked her. She'd listened to everything Danny had to say, and asked questions with a sympathetic drawl.

She'd left for a while, then returned about ten minutes later to tell him that a picture of Dan's dad and the name Simon Vesper was being circulated to police forces around the country.

He knew this was good news, but his mind was still on the Bings. What happened now? Who would he live with? What would his mum say? The whole thing was so complicated it was giving him a headache.

"Daniel?"

Danny looked up from the floor. MJ put a plastic cup of water in front of him and stretched in her seat. "You're mom has been called, she'll be here real soon." Danny nodded and MJ left him, saying she needed to check on something. He curled up in his chair and laid his head on his arm.

A confusing mix of anger and shame was making his stomach squirm. He hadn't told MJ about how he was sure his mum knew about him being kidnapped as a little boy. He could barely think about it himself. He definitely wasn't ready to see her.

He closed his eyes and felt tears prick the corners. He didn't want to see his mum, or the Bings. The only person he wanted to see was Katie. If his questioning was over for now Katie's must be to.

The door opened and he jerked upright, hoping it was her.

Instead his mum stood in the doorway.

She looked livid, livid and utterly terrified. They looked at each other for a long second, and before Danny could even blink his mother had somehow crossed the room and was beside him. Shaking him and hugging him at the same time.

"Daniel, oh Daniel you stupid, _stupid_ boy…Thank god you're ok. I couldn't find you…. Then a police officer he…"

She drew back, her hands still digging into his shoulders. Danny made no move, he just stood there. Stiff and awkward.

"Daniel" Her eyes sought out his, fearful and questioning.

"How could you?" His voice was flat, emotionless.

"Daniel-" Her voice was nearly above a whisper

"You knew" His mother's fingers dug into his shoulders

"Daniel let me explain-"

"YOU KNEW" Blind fury surged through him and he shrugged himself free of her hold

"Daniel, please. Let me explain-"  
"EXPLAIN WHAT! YOU STOLE ME FROM THEM. YOU STOLE ME FROM MY REAL FAMILY"

She looked as if Danny had slapped her in the face "What?"

"Don't lie. You knew. They've connect dad with the case. You knew" Tears Danny had been trying to hold back since he first entered the police station rolled down his cheeks.

"I didn't take you from another family. We adopted you properly, officially"

"STOP LYING!"

Danny and his mother just looked at each other for a long moment. Her face was creased with frowns. "Come on, we're going for a walk"

"A walk, What?"

"Come on"

"What, no! I don't-"  
"Daniel. I think it's time you saw this situation from another person's point of view."  
Danny didn't have the heart to argue. The cool, calm, professional women he was used to had been replaced by an emotional stranger. He let himself be dragged out and reluctantly followed his mother.

Just as they entered the lobby and headed toward the front door, a young police officer called from behind the front desk. "Excuse me Ma'am, I can't authorise you to leave with a suspect"

Danny's winced as fury overtook his mother's face. "A suspect! He is not a suspect in this mess, he's fourteen."

"Ma'am I can't-"

"I will bring him back if he needs anymore questioning, now let me talk to my son in peace."

If the situation wasn't so tense Danny would have laughed at the terrified expression on the fully uniformed police officer's face. The policeman looked to his colleague on his left for guidance. He just shrugged, mumbled something to the young police officer and pressed a button to open the front door.

"Thank you" She said, not impolitely. And strode purposefully through the door.

"Where are we going?" Danny asked, not surprised when he didn't receive an answer. He followed her in silence.

They walked up a busy road until they found a small park. Young children were playing on a playground nearby. Danny briefly wondered if he'd even been here before he had been taken, back when he was Matthew.

"Daniel, let me explain. You know how much I love you, how special you were to me." She took a calming breath "But there are lots of things you don't know."

"Why are we here?" Danny interrupted, too angry to care about his rudeness.

"We won't be interrupted here. You need to hear the full story Daniel. I need you to understand." Danny nodded but refused to look at his mother.

"Just…just tell me the truth. All of it" Penelope nodded and led Danny to a bench in a quieter area of the park.

"I'll start at the very beginning." Danny looked at her expectantly and she took a deep breath. "But first, tell me how they've connected your father to the case."

"What! Mum no, you tell me-"

"Daniel please. I'm as much in the dark about this as you are. He was my husband…well still is my husband I guess."

"Not much of a husband" Danny muttered under his breath.

Penelope smiled humourlessly. "No I suppose not. Not much of a father either."

He bent his head and stared at his trainers, watching as he drew a line across the dirt with them.

"Mum can't you just-"

"No Daniel. I've always had questions when it came to… _him_ …Just tell me what you know and it might fill in some blanks. I promise I'll tell you everything afterwards." Danny knew his mother well enough to know she wasn't going to back down.

The conversation with the Bings and then the police seemed so long ago, even though it had only been a matter of hours.

"Chandler didn't call him John Haddigan He-"

"Chandler's your-"

"My real dad yeah." Danny didn't fail to notice his mother's grimace at the word 'real', but chose to ignore it. "His police file said Simon Vesper. But there was this picture in the corner. And it was him mum, younger. But it was him." Danny tried to keep his face free from emotion but one look at his mum's expression told him he wasn't succeeding.

"Chandler said that a couple years ago they put a new team onto Matthew's case…or my case I guess. One of the detectives had worked on a similar case back in like 2001 or something. I can't remember exactly. Anyway he was a suspect in the attempted abduction of a four year old girl somewhere upstate, but they never had enough evidence to charge him with anything. It then came out that Vesper's mother had lived in a house on the same street as the Bings until she died, which was like in 2011 or something. So now he's a prime suspect. But…he's disappeared. So they can't find him to question him."

"He told me his parents were dead." Danny heard his mother mumble, he looked questioningly up at her.

"That's all I know mum. It's your turn."

Penelope nodded. "I'll start from the very beginning." She took a deep breath and paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "I met your father in a bar back in 2002. I had just got a new job and was new to London. I only knew about five people at the time. He…he was older than me, but he was kind, and charming…and…we fell in love. We got married in 2004 in what had to be the quietist ceremony ever. He told me he had no family, and the only family I had left was my dad, who as you'll know is hardly a party animal." Danny grinned knowingly. His grandfather was a stern, tall and now almost completely deaf man a couple weeks shy of his 95th birthday. He liked nothing more than his own company. "It wasn't a lively wedding by any means, but it didn't matter. Because we were finally married. We soon decided we would start a family. We tried. Tried for six years to have a baby. We went through four full IVF cycles and countless other failed attempts. Eventually, in the summer of 2010, I got pregnant." Danny took a sharp intake of breath. Penelope didn't appear to notice, her eyes were fixed on a little girl playing with her mother in the grass. "We were over the moon…completely ecstatic. But six weeks later, I miscarried." A couple of tears fell down her face. Danny didn't know what to do, he had never seen his mother cry before. He reached over and took her hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"After that I…I wasn't coping very well." She looked over at Danny with a horrible, cold look in her eyes. "I tried to take my own life."

It was like she'd punched him right in the stomach. He caught his breath. _She tried to kill herself?_ His mum was so in control of everything, so organised. How could she have ever even considered suicide?

"Mum" He whispered softly.

"So your father and I agreed not to do anymore IVF. It took a while for me to recover, but once I did we turned to adoption. But with my history of mental illness no local agencies would even consider us. I'll admit I had almost given up at that point. We called agencies all over the world. China, Australia, America. But nothing. Then your father came back from a business trip one day, he said he had found a way to adopt from overseas. He told me we'd have to bend a few rules, but we'd get a child."

Danny's heard thumped in his chest.

"He said that there was a young American man living in Maine who had just been widowed, and couldn't care for his son. The adoption would be straightforward, but there was a catch. He wanted more than the normal expenses that got paid by adoptive parents to birth parents….He wanted to sell you, for a lot of money."

Rage surged through Danny. He ripped his hand out of hers and jumped up "So you bought me! Like.. like an _object_!".

"Please Daniel, I know giving him all that money was wrong but-"

"Wrong!" He scoffed "Mum you-"

"Daniel you have no right to judge! None!" She shouted, she took a calming breath and looked him in the eyes. "I know it was wrong but that man was claiming to be your father! I agonised over what we were doing, I was so desperate for a child…So desperate. And that man didn't seem the slightest bit interested in you. When we finally met you you were terrified of him. You didn't speak at all and would flinch if he even came near you! I thought I was saving you from him. He didn't care about you Daniel, all he cared about was how much money he could screw out of us. It's why I've had to work so much, why I'm never home. I still owe that man so much money."

"I never asked you to do-"

"I know"

She took his hand again. Danny didn't resist but didn't sit down. Her whole face was contorted, pleading with him to understand. He closed his eyes to let all she had just said sink in. She didn't know he had been stolen, she had only paid the man because she thought she was protecting him.

"What was his name?" Danny asked

"He told us it was Todd Carson, that's what's on your adoption certificate. But with all this" She made a small swooping gesture with her free hand "That's almost certainly not his real name"

Danny nodded and sat back down next to her

"But why…you made it sound like dad had no idea that I was stolen. The police here obviously think he was involved"

"I don't know Daniel" She said, looking more fragile than Danny had ever seen her before. "Before I never would have imagined…but now…I guess there's more to the story."

They sat together in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts.

"So what happens now?" Danny asked. His mother shrugged, then stood up and brushed the dirt off her clothes.

"We go back to the police station, and I tell them what I just told you."

"But mum, what you did was illegal, won't you be arrested?" Worry creased Danny's face and he looked up expectantly at his mother.

"Don't you worry Daniel, it'll be fine" Danny was sure it most definitely wouldn't be fine, but knew arguing wouldn't change her mind. They made their way back to the police station slowly, and were met with MJ when they walked in.

"There you guys are" She led them back into the room Danny had been questioned in and shut the door behind her. "We are going to have to interview you ma'am" she said, tilting her head to Penelope. "And Daniel the Bings are naturally very eager to see you again. But before all that" She pulled a small plastic bag with swab in out out her pocket. "We need to do a DNA test."

* * *

 **Wow, remember me? I can't believe its taken me so long to update, and cannot apologise enough. But hopefully the circumstances surrounding Danny's past and his parents involvement are becoming more clear.**

 **Once again thank you to everybody who reviews, favourited or followed. It's incredibly encouraging and I can't thank you enough.**

 **ChocoholiclikeLupin x**


	10. Chapter 10

The DNA test took less than thirty seconds, it didn't feel right that something so quick and easy to do would be so important. The nurse who had done a quick check of Danny before he was questioned escorted him back out into the main part of the police station where he was told to wait for his mother.

"The results will be in first thing tomorrow morning" She told him with a smile, then left him on his own.

Danny wondered where Katie had gone, his phone was dead so he couldn't contact her, but assumed she had been taken to a hotel. He sighed and looked out the window, watching people and cars go by. He didn't know where the Bings had gone, or when he'd see them next. His mum was now in the picture which made the situation infinitely more complicated. Danny leant his head against the window and watched an old man load his shopping into a car across the road. Like every person he had seen today he wondered if he had known them before he was taken. It felt like the more he started to learn about his past the more lost he felt.

He didn't know what would happen to his mum, would she be arrested her part in all this? Or what would happen to him. Would he be forced to stay here? As much as he wanted to get to know the Bings he didn't want to live here. He didn't know anyone, yet if what Ross said was true the whole country knew who he was. He felt like a total outsider.

But he couldn't just leave. The Bings may be strangers to him, but they are his family, and have been looking for him for years. He wouldn't leave them.

His mother strode into the room before his thoughts could give him a headache. Her expression was unreadable, Danny couldn't decide if that was good or not. MJ followed behind at a more leisurely pace. Stopping to say something to another police officer standing by the front desk.

"We're gonna escort you guys back to the hotel" She told them, motioning to the front doors. "The DNA results will be in first thing tomorrow morning, we'll see where we go from there"

Danny nodded and followed the adults outside where a police officer was standing next to an unmarked Ford Focus. He shared a nod with MJ and opened the back door for Danny and his mother to get in. MJ got in the front and they set off.

"Where's Katie?" Danny asked

"At the hotel with a colleague."

That was the only conversation throughout the whole journey, the rest passed in frosty silence.

When they arrived they were brought up to adjoining rooms without having to check in, then left on their own.

The room was drab, the walls were covered in a faded, off white wallpaper and there was a small desk in the corner. Someone must have been to the hotel they were staying in in the city, because at the door stood both their suitcases.

With a huff Danny grabbed his suitcase and without a word to his mother he went into his own room, shutting the door behind him with much more force than necessary. He missed the look of defeat on his mother's face.

He dumped his suitcase at the foot of his bed and dug around for his phone charger. Then plugged his phone in and waited impatiently for the screen to light up a minute he had connected to the hotel wifi and notifications started popping up one after the other. He ignored most of them and scanned through them looking for anything from Katie.

Nothing.

He frowned, but decided not to worry about it and sent her a quick text.

 _Where are you?_

He got no reply, so sent another message.

 _I'm in room 207_

Still no reply. He signed and looked over the other notifications. Most were from his friends back home, but one last notification popped up.

 _14 missed calls from Mum_

Waves of guilt washed over him and he looked at the door that joined his room to his mother's. He was still angry at her, because of her he'd been taken away from his family and sold like an animal. He believed her when she said she didn't know that he'd been kidnapped, but she still agreed to pay for him. To _buy_ him. But remembering just how haggard she had looked when she'd seen him earlier made his stomach squirm.

The whole thing made his stomach squirm.

His mum came in about half an hour later and took him down to the hotel restaurant. Most of the meal was spent in silence. Danny picked at his food, trying to ignore the loud conversations of the groups around him. Too many thoughts were crowding in on him - all the stuff about his mum being desperate for a child, where his father was and what would happen if he found out that Danny had found the Bings, and, of course, what it would mean if he really was Matthew Bing.

He'd only ever thought about it as a kind of fantasy before. It had been an alternative life that he could change in his mind to suit his mood. Now that he had met the Bings he was painfully aware that there was a real family behind his fantasy. It was a family reality he wasn't quite sure he could face yet.

Once the bill was paid they made their way upstairs in the same uncomfortable silence that had hung over dinner. With a dismissive 'night' Danny went into his room, changed and crawled into bed.

He was exhausted, but couldn't sleep. As the night wore on his thoughts became darker, more insistent. They were bombarding him. When he forced one away another would push itself into him mind. He found himself imagining how his mum had tried to kill herself, each situation getting worse than the last. Then it was his dad, where was he? If he really had played a part in his kidnapping would he seek Danny out if he found out Danny had met the Bings?

He turned over and plumped his pillow, where was Katie? Why wasn't she replying to his messages? He wanted to talk all of this through with her, she was the only one he knew would really understand.

He eventually fell into a restless sleep, then woke up just as the warm morning light started to creep in through the small gaps in the curtains. He couldn't have got more than five hours sleep, yet he felt wide awake.

Thoughts about what being the Bing's son meant crowded his mind. They would want to see him again, which was fine - he was curious about them too. But he knew that wouldn't be easy. What if they wanted to call him Matthew? What if they expected him to call them mum and dad?

A gentle rap on the door brought him out of his musings. He stood up, staring at the door with a furrowed brow. Another knock, slightly louder this time. He definitely didn't imagine this one.

He padded across the plush hotel carpet the door and listened.

"Dan" said a quiet voice "Open up".

Katie.

He pulled open the door. Katie was already dressed in jeans and a deep red jumper that made her eyes stand out.

"They won't let me see you" She looked furtively up and down the corridor, as if an FBI agent was going to jump out at any moment. Danny pulled her inside the room and shut the door. "I had to give the receptionist some long sob story before she gave me your room number."  
"I send you it" Danny replied, holding up his phone. "Why didn't you just check there."

"My charger wasn't in my suitcase" She shrugged. "And then my mum called so I wasted any battery I did have listening to her and dad yelling at me over the phone." She rolled her eyes. "They've booked me a plane ticket home for 6 today, I think one of the police officers is taking me to the airport." She took her phone out of her jean pocket and plugged it into the charger on Danny's wall. "Oh, and I've been grounded until the end of the summer."

Danny smiled apologetically "Sorry Kate, I shouldn't have got you involved in this whole…mess"

"Not you fault" She waved a dismissive hand "Besides, this has been way more fun than sitting at home all half term."

Danny smiled slightly, and opened his mouth to say something when voices echoed in the distance. Then footsteps, louder and louder, stampeding towards them. There was an impatient rapping at the door. Danny shared a confused look with Katie as he walked across the room to open the door.

MJ was standing there with uniformed officers behind her. "In the room please" Her voice was strained, urgent. He looked around at the other officers behind her and gulped when he noticed they were carrying guns. He'd never seen a real one up close before. He could see another group of officers banging on his mum's door too.

"What is it?" He asked.

MJ ignored him and looked at Katie. "Alright you, back to your room"

Katie stood her ground "What's happening?"

"Move" One of the larger officers barked at her. She gave him a withering look and stood next to Danny.

"I'm staying here with Dan."

"Fine just get in" MJ said, cutting off the other officer's argument. Danny couldn't help but grin slightly. Only Katie could challenge an armed officer triple her size and get her own way.

MJ pushed them further into the room and shut the door behind her. She held up a piece of paper. "You're DNA results" she said. Danny knew before she told him.

"According to the test there is a greater than 99.99% chance you are the biological offspring of Monica and Chandler Bing. In other words, no doubt at all."

After all this time and effort to find out where he came from Danny thought he would feel excited, or afraid, or at least relieved.

Instead he felt nothing.

Another uniformed officer came into the room and nodded at MJ. "Target secure" he said.

"What target?" Danny asked

MJ signed and motioned for him to sit on the edge of the bed. "I know this is going to be hard for you Daniel but now that we know you're Matthew Daniel Bing it means we now know you were abducted from outside your home in September 2012 and at some point smuggled into the UK, where you were adopted in December of that year. What we don't know is how many people were involved in that abduction and the coverup and fraud that followed. It is possible your adoptive mother knew what was going on."

Danny's mouth went dry. "No…No, she didn't know"

"We can't be sure of that, so we are taking in your mother for more questioning and until the investigation is over you won't be allowed any contact with her."

Danny felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

"What? But she didn't know.. you can't just-"

"I'm sorry Daniel, but we need to see adoption papers, bank account details, that sort of thing."

Danny felt his stomach drop. Bank data? If they didn't already know about the money his mother had illegally paid then they would pretty soon, and that would make his mum look guilty as hell.

"How long is it going to take?" He asked, hating how vulnerable he sounded.

MJ squatted down in front of him in a way that was meant to be comforting, but came across patronising.

"I can't say for sure, there's a lot of mystery surrounding this. We need to find who falsified all your birth certificates and any other records to do with your early years… It'll probably take a while."

Danny gulped. "Am I going home with Katie?"

MJ shook her head. "Katie is going back to England, but your situation is more complicated."

Danny looked up at her expectantly, he had a horrible gut feeling he knew what she was going to say.

"There's gonna be an ex-parte proceeding in the next twenty-four hours, that will decide your custody on a temporary basis. Then after a month another hearing will take place to decide where you'll live permanently."

Danny took a deep breath. "So I… I might not be able to go home?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that" MJ told him. "We know you are the Bing's son but we have to legally prove your adoption the UK to be invalid, which is what the hearing in a month's time is for. In the meantime the normal procedure for a child who's parentage is in dispute would be to put them in foster care."

"Foster care?" He breathed "I don't want to live with strangers."

"I understand that, but you're not letting me finish. This isn't a normal case. The Bings know about the test result so they are most likely going to get a judge to approve a 'best interest placement'."

"What…what does that mean?" Danny's head was spinning.

"The Bings are going to get themselves approved as temporary foster parents, given the circumstances it won't take long. You're probably going to stay there until the court hearing in a month, then your permeant custody will be decided."  
Danny stared at her blankly.

"Think of it this way Daniel, after eleven years you're finally going home."

* * *

The Bings did exactly what MJ had predicted and before Danny had even sat down for lunch it was decided he would be staying there until the hearing in mid July. After MJ told him she gave him a sandwich and sent him upstairs to pack. He would be leaving by 3 o'clock that afternoon.

His feelings were all muddled. Of course he wanted to spend time with the Bings, but he didn't want to live with them. He didn't _know_ them. The thought of living with people who were basically strangers terrified him.

He missed him mum.

He found that almost strange. His mum was not the warmest of people. They were often at odds and when she left him on his own at home to go on business trips or meetings he never missed her like this. But just the thought of her sitting in a police cell made his stomach lurch. He miserably opened the door to his room and started to pack. It didn't take long, he'd only been here a night, so he started to unpack everything and pack it all again just for something to do.

Katie joined him a while later, she sat on the bed and watched him fold then refold his clothes. She was being practical about the whole thing, trying to calm him down.

"They can't hold her without any evidence" She had said "It's not like she's a terrorist or anything, and once you've explained to the Bings you don't want to stay with them, they won't force you. They can't"

Danny wasn't so sure. He thought about the money his mum had paid, and Bings' reaction when they saw him yesterday. His heart sank, but he didn't say anything. He wasn't going to ruin the last few hours they had together, especially when he didn't know how long it would be before they saw each other again.

MJ knocked on the door at quarter to three.

"You've got two minutes guys, then we've got to go" She stepped outside and closed the door.

Katie threw herself at him, hugging him fiercely.

"I'll miss you Dan" She mumbled into his chest, then pulled back and met his eyes. "You'll be fine, just be yourself. They'll love you."

Danny nodded, and took a deep shaky breath. "Thanks Katie."

She smiled and hugged him again. "You better text me everyday, and I'll keep you updated on everything that happens back home, even the boring stuff. A month will be over before you know it."

MJ knocked on the door again. "Come on guys, time to go. Katie one of my colleagues - Madison Parker - she's gonna take you to the airport and make sure you're all packed and have all your stuff with you ok? You should go meet her now, she'll be down by the hotel restaurant."

Katie nodded and gave Danny one last hug, then left.

"You ready?" MJ asked as she picked up his case. Danny nodded and stumbled blindly behind her into the hotel lift, then out into the lobby.

As MJ organised the cars out front Danny checked his phone, hoping for something from his mother. He wasn't expecting anything, but couldn't help his stomach from sinking when there was nothing.

MJ led him out to a car. She slammed the doors shut behind him and made her way round the the drivers seat.

"You ready?" She asked, putting the key in the ignition.

Danny nodded.

"Yep" He breathed, resting his head against the window.

Inside he wasn't so sure.


	11. Chapter 11

The journey to the Bings flashed past in what felt like seconds. Danny sat in the back seat hunched over, his hands clenched tightly together. A mix of nerves, uncertainty and dread was making him feel very ill. MJ had tried to make conversation, but quickly realised Danny wasn't going to respond. She had shrugged and turned the radio on, a pop song Danny didn't recognise filled the car.

"Here we are" MJ told him as they pulled up on the side of the road. She parked the car and turned in her seat to look at him. "There's no need to be so nervous" She told him, unbuckling her seatbelt. "They're your family after all"

 _They're your family after all._

The words seemed to reverberate against his skull. He had a family, albeit a tiny, dysfunctional one made up of him, his mum and the dog back home in London. To him family were people he knew, he trusted. The people waiting for him inside that house were his family biologically but nothing else. They were still strangers to him.

MJ opened the door to let him out and he followed her up the path almost in a trance. She gave him a small reassuring smile and rang the doorbell. The house seemed quiet, but he was dreading all the people he might have to meet.

The door opened almost before MJ had stopped pressing the door bell. Monica smiled at them kindly and stood back to let them in. She took Danny's suitcase off MJ and placed it at the bottom of the stairs, then led them to the back of the house and into the kitchen.

When Danny had been here last the kitchen had been clean, but now it was totally spotless, Danny was sure everything from the floor to the marble countertop had been polished.

Danny's mum always cleaned and organised when she was nervous or anxious, he guessed Monica was the same.

"Would you like a drink?" Monica asked both of them.

"Actually I've got to get back" MJ said, checking her watch. "I'll be back tomorrow morning, there's a few matters we still need to discuss. But now's not the time."

She stood up and quickly said her goodbyes, then left Monica and Danny alone.

Danny stood awkwardly at the kitchen doorway, not knowing what to do. He was wondering where everyone else was.

Monica regarded him with a knowing look. "Sit down Daniel, are you hungry, thirsty?"

He hadn't eaten lunch and had barely touched his breakfast, but felt too nervous to eat. He shook his head.

Monica seemed to deflate slightly. She probably just wanted something to do. She moved towards the tap and pulled out two glasses, filled them with water then sat down opposite Danny.

"Chandler, Jack and Erica have gone to to grocery store" She said. "They should be back by now actually. We needed some stuff for dinner, with everything going on I've fallen a bit behind."

Danny nodded and fiddled absentmindedly with the glass in his hands, swirling the water around in slow circles. He still hadn't spoken. He knew he was being rude but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. What do you even say to your long lost mother? Monica seemed to be having the same problem. She bit the corner of her lip and studied him for a second.

"The twins just came back from college, they arrived last night… Both of them are really excited to see you. They couldn't believe it, it took Joey, Ross your dad and I to explain what happened before they believed it."

She continued to talk about what and where the twins were studying but Danny wasn't listening. His mind had fixed on what Monica said.

 _Your dad and I._

His father was John Haddigan. A man he hadn't seen since he was five. A man who most likely played a large part in his kidnapping, but a man he could remember. He taught him to ride a bike and play football, did fatherly things with him. He wished he could remember Chandler doing those sorts of things with him, but he couldn't. Chandler was still a stranger.

"Are you ok Daniel?" Monica had stopped talking and was looking at Danny with a concerned expression. He nodded, feeling slightly overwhelmed.

"It is Daniel? You don't prefer Danny or Dan do you?" She asked.

Danny shrugged. "Most people call me Danny, I respond to anything though." It was the first time he'd spoken since he arrived. Monica smiled.

"You know I had that name picked out since I was 14? I always thought if I had a son he would be called Daniel. Jack was named after my father, then when we had you we figured that having sons named Jack and Daniel might make us sound like alcoholics" Danny smiled "Matthew means 'gift of god', which is why we chose it, it suited the situation and you, but we kept Daniel as a middle name, I'm glad you remembered it - at least I assume you must have, or else…"

Danny shuffled in his seat uncomfortably. Why had he kept one of his names? They were saved from an awkward pause by the sound of the front door opening, then almost immediately an almighty crash.

"Jack!" A female voice exclaimed. "What did you do?"

"What did I do?" Said a male's voice, slightly muffled and very sarcastic. "I thought I'd just facepalm the floor Erica, thought that might be a fun thing to do."

"I told you to tie that lace up" A third, familiar voice said. Chandler.

Monica rolled her eyes and stood up to investigate the commotion, noticing Danny's unsure expression, she gestured for him to follow. He stood a couple paces behind her, not leaving the kitchen. A boy with a shock of light brown hair was sprawled on the floor, a girl with similar features stood over him, rolling her eyes. Jack and Erica. His brother and sister.

"No are you ok Jack? Just I told you so? Honestly…this family" His grumbles became quiet as he picked himself up off the floor. Grimacing, he wiped down his trousers and shirt. "Hey why is there a suitcase-"

Realisation hit him and he looked to Monica. His eyes flicked to where Danny was standing behind her and he froze, a look of disbelief on his face.

Jack's hazel eyes were glazed with a sort of shock at Danny, and his lips were parted with unspoken emotion. Erica was gazing at Danny with yearning, her brows pinched in emotion.

There was a long pause.

Erica was the one who recovered first. A slight gasp passed her lips as she took a step towards him. She seemed torn between a desire to embrace him and give him some space. One hand came up, trembling, to her mouth.

When she spoke her voice was choked with emotion. "Oh my god"

Danny smiled slightly and before he knew it was in Erica's embrace. After a minute or so she let him go, and he was almost immediately engulfed in a big bear hug. Jack was almost a head taller than Danny, and easily picked him off the ground. He was too taken aback to return the hug, but Jack didn't seem to notice. He put him back on his feet but didn't let go.

"Oh my god it's really you." He said with a grin. "Mom and dad said but I didn't believe…"

Behind Jack Erica gave him a watery smile, which Danny timidly returned. "Matthew…You look exactly the same, just older" She wiped a tear from her eye "So much like Dad"

"Poor guy" Jack commented, receiving glares from his parents. Danny smiled.

"Hey Danny" Chandler said, carrying a bag of shopping under one arm and using the free one to ruffle Danny's hair. The casual greeting was a far cry from the emotional mess he was when they met yesterday. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Monica looking at the scene with misty eyes. For some reason that made him uncomfortable.

Erica put a gentle hand behind his back to lead him into the kitchen behind her parents. Jack went back into the hall to pick up everything he had dropped when he'd fallen earlier. As Erica went to help her parents put away the shopping Danny hung back. They were chatting and joking with each other, sending Danny small smiles and looks occasionally but otherwise acting as if everything was completely normal. This was probably for their sakes as well as Danny's. He knew they were trying to make him feel at home but he couldn't help but feel anything but.

Jack came in a minute later, he dumped the bag of groceries on the counter and grabbed an apple that Chandler had just put away.

"What's for dinner mom?" Jack asked through a mouthful of fruit, Erica shot him a look of disgust but didn't comment.

"Burgers and fries. And don't talk with your mouth full" Jack rolled his eyes at his mother and made a great show of swallowing the food before asking what time they would eat.

"Around 7, we'll eat outside if the weather holds." She glanced out the window and started folding the empty bags. "Jack, Erica, show Danny where he'll be staying"

Jack took another bite of his apple and gestured at Danny, Erica was already halfway up the stairs with Danny's suitcase. Chandler made a movement as if to follow, but stopped when Monica sent him a look. Danny squirmed uncomfortably, but followed Jack upstairs. He didn't need to be a genius to know exactly what, or who, their topic of conversation would be.

A grinning Jack led Danny up the stairs and into a wide hallway. Much like the one downstairs, framed photos adorned the soft cream walls. They were mostly of Jack and Erica, but a couple featured other children around the same age as the twins. He guessed they were cousins, or close family friends.

"That's Erica's room" Jack pointed to an open door on the left.

Danny looked through the doorway, it was definitely a girl's room. The walls were painted a pale blue, there was a double bed against one wall, a large window on another with a desk covered in make-up right underneath it and a suitcase lying open on the floor with clothes, books, jotters and various other things lying all over the pink bedding.

"And you said I make a mess," stated Jack as he looked into his sister's room, "Would have been better if you left the suitcase closed."

"Oh shut up, I'll get everything done," pouted Erica, who had just appeared from one of the rooms further down the corridor.

"Anyway, this is my room" He led them to the room opposite Erica's. Jack' room was similar to his sister's. Suitcase on his double bed, opened and with many of his possessions scattered around the surrounding area. His desk was also under the window, but unlike Erica's had only a sticker covered laptop on it. The walls were painted a dark blue, where a number of posters had been pinned up.

"Your's is no cleaner than mine!" Erica exclaimed, peering round the door.

"It's an organised mess, stop criticising my methods." Jack must have seen something on Danny's face because he looked at him and added. "We've just come back from college, we don't normally keep all our stuff in suitcases."

He grinned and followed his twin back into the hallway. "Anyway come to us if you need anything, wake us up if you need"

Erica snorted "Come to me, Jack sleeps like the dead."

Jack rolled his eyes and shoved his sister playfully.

"Bathroom" Erica said, pointing to the door next to her room. "Mom and Dad's room is the one at the end of the corridor, guest room is the one opposite. That's where you'll be staying. And that's your room…well your old room at least." She finished awkwardly.

He looked at the door at the end of the corridor. The name 'Matthew' was written on the outside in big wooden letters, each one decorated with a different cartoon animal. He'd had something very similar back home when he was little, except the letters spelt out 'Daniel'. He walked slowly towards the door, aware of Jack and Erica's gaze. He stared at the letter 'M'. It was slightly bigger than the others and had a monkey painted on the front. He felt a stirring of a memory, something about it was familiar.

He turned the handle. It was a large room, made to look even larger by the small size of the children's furniture. The walls were painted a soft blue, cloud stickers decorated them. Bookshelves lined most of one wall, a collection of children's books and small toys filled the shelves. In the corner there was a white rocking chair, hanging above that was an aeroplane mobile. A toy box stood at the foot of a toddler bed, covered in some oversized lego bricks and toy cars. He wandered past the toys and to the bed. A small teddy bear lay on top of the soft, white duvet. He picked it up. The bear was wearing a blue and navy striped t-shirt, one of the bear's ears was tearing along the seam and the t-shirt had a couple of small holes near the bottom.

"I see you found Baba bear" Monica was sanding in the doorway. _Wait, Baba bear?_

"Baba bear?" Danny asked, clutching the bear and looking over to Monica. Chandler had joined her at the door and they shared a look.

"Do you recognise it?" Chandler asked "It would make sense, you loved that thing."

Danny studied the bear, it was strikingly similar to the one he had back home, just a slightly bigger, and with a blue top instead of a green one.

"Well yeah…" He breathed a laugh and looked up at Monica and Chandler. "I had a bear just like it when I was little, called it Baba bear Junior."

Monica's eyebrows almost disappeared into her hairline.

"I got him when I was three, a couple weeks after I was adopted. Apparently I kept asking for Baba bear…neither of my parents had any idea what I was on about, and I didn't like any of the stuffed animals that they had got me. Wouldn't sleep with them or anything…Dad took me to a toy shop. They had like a huge wall of stuffed toys and let me pick out any stuffed animal, because I was so set on having 'baba bear'. I picked out that bear and called it baba bear junior."

Chandler and Monica both looked shocked and slightly upset. He understood that, why would he remember his stuffed toy so well, but not his family?

He studied the bear some more, struck by just how familiar it was. At the door Monica had whispered something to Chandler, who had walked to the other side of the corridor with he twins. Monica came inside and shut the door, she ran her fingers along the bookshelf.

"I kept everything just as it was when…" She looked down.

Danny stood by the bed suddenly very awkward. He started shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

"For years this was the only place I could find any peace, the only place I could just be. " She walked over to him and placed a gentle hand on his arm. "We can go through everything soon, clear out all the baby stuff, make it yours again."

He nodded, then shrank back.

Monica stood there for a few seconds, her hand still outstretched. She gave him a sad smile and turned, leaving the room.

* * *

MJ came just after breakfast the next morning, she smiled kindly at Danny when he greeted her but couldn't hide the tired and stressed look on her face. She sat down at the kitchen table, politely declining Monica's offer of food and logged onto her iPad.

Monica sat down next to Danny as Chandler sent Jack and Erica upstairs. He then sat down on Danny's other side.

"Ok, quite a lot has happened since we met yesterday. I'll try make all this as quick as possible." She pulled up a picture of a large, bald man with a huge forehead. He looked to be in his mid-40s. His head was disproportionately small when compared to the width of his muscly shoulders and to Danny's eyes at least, he bore an uncanny resemblance to a thumb.

"This man is Todd Carson, he's the man who is down as your father on your adoption certificate Danny."

A prickle of fear shot up Danny's spine, though he couldn't explain why.

"He was arrested on a DUI charge in February 2012 in Rochester. These pictures are the mugshots from that arrest. We put them out on national TV last night, asking anyone to call if they recognised the man. A woman called at about eleven last night from Chicago saying that it was her neighbour, going under a different name, but the same man. He was taken into custody and interviewed."

MJ looked straight at Danny, he could tell by her face it wasn't good news. "He's admitted knowing about the whole kidnapping from when you were little."

Danny frowned "Isn't that good? If he's admitted taking me that proves mum is innocent."

"It's not that simple" MJ said "He has signed a statement saying that your mom was involved in the whole thing."

Danny stared at her, his heart beating wildly. He vaguely heard Monica ask a question behind him. Danny didn't give her a chance to finish.

"He's lying" He cried. "Mum told me everything. She thought he was my father. She-"

"I know Danny, I've listened to his interview and what Penelope is telling us is making sense and sounding far more sincere. I've been dong this job for a long time, you start to develop a sense for when people are lying. I don't think your mother is. But she has admitted to breaking the law with the money transfers, so we have to go through due process."

She pulled a strip of paper out her pocket and slid it across the table to Danny. "This is her lawyer's number, he can update you on her case."

He thanked her and clutched the small bit of paper tightly in his fist.

He wanted nothing more than to get up now and call the guy. But Monica and Chandler were asking questions and he knew he had to stay and listen.

"Next thing to do is discuss the media." MJ said.

"Media?" Danny asked

"We've already had two journalists asking questions at the police station. We refused to answer anything but-"

"Journalists?"

"Your disappearance was huge Danny. The whole country knows your name, you were the main story on all national news outlets for weeks afterwards." Monica explained. Danny swallowed a lump in his throat.

"What are we going to have to do, how much is Danny going to have to do?" Chandler asked.

MJ grimaced. "The media attention is going to be intense. Probably even more so than when he first went missing. That was only national news. Danny's been living in the UK all this time, so the British news outlets will want the story. And then the fact that he found you and he's so young…The rest of the world will be interested too."

Danny looked down into his lap. He knew exactly what sort of story the media would tell. He would have to pretend everything was perfect here, he'd found his parents and wasn't looking back. His mum would be portrayed as the villain in this story. A child snatcher who should be locked up.

He was prepared to do anything in his power to stop that.

"Will I have to do interviews?"

MJ grimaced. "You'll definitely have to do one, we'll try our best to limit it to that. It won't be live and I'll try my best to have an interview with one person rather than a large crowd of journalists." She looked at Monica and Chandler in turn. "I'll need a statement from you guys by this evening, we'll release that when the news breaks." They shared a look and nodded. MJ's eyes flicked back to her iPad. "The house will be secured the same way it was after Danny first went missing, and remember to to keep your curtains facing the street closed. We'll try our best to stop reporters camping out the house but…" She shrugged and Monica and Chandler nodded in understanding, Danny wondered if the same thing had happened when he first went missing.

MJ stood up and Picked up the iPad. "One last thing, Danny make sure all your social media accounts are completely private, Monica, Chandler you guys too. Tell your twins as well. People are going to be all over this story and I don't want them harassing you online."

They all nodded.

"Thank you MJ" Chandler shook her hand. She let herself out and Danny watched the car pull away, an odd feeling of dread in his gut.

* * *

The day passed quickly after MJ's visit, as did the next week. Life at the Bings was by no means uncomfortable, but Danny couldn't help but miss home. In fact missing home had become a dull, constant ache. He missed school and he missed the noise and chaos that came with living in a big city. But what he missed most was his mum.

It was strange, considering how much time he'd spent wishing her away, he would never have imagined he would miss her as much as he did. It wasn't as if he wanted to have a long chat with her or anything. He just missed her in the background. Doing mum things, alongside the sounds and smells of his normal life.

After a couple of days he'd fallen into a routine. He'd wake up early and try to get hold of Katie, she'd gone back to school last Monday, and as the news of his 'reappearance' had made the front page the next day, she was dealing with scores of curious teenagers asking about it. Something she'd complained about for a good 15 minutes on their last phone call.

He'd go down for breakfast soon after, where Erica and Monica were usually waiting. Erica was fairly reserved, she seemed more comfortable asking questions about Danny's life than talking about her own. But she was good company. They'd talk quietly over breakfast, Monica joining occasionally, but she mostly just listened. Chandler and Jack tended to join later. Jack was clever and witty and loud, but not in an obnoxious way. He was good at interrupting awkward silences, which unfortunately he'd had to do quite a bit.

Chandler was a lot like Jack. Clever and witty, but in a more quiet, sarcastic kind of way. He usually spent a good part of the morning entertaining Danny with stories of all the crazy things that he and the rest of their group of friends got up to before the twins were born. Jack and Erica weren't particularly interested in this, they'd probably heard them all before.

After lunch MJ usually called. She kept them up to date about the search for John Haddigan, or Simon Vesper, or whatever his real name was. The search was, unsurprisingly, not getting very far. He'd used a number of identities in his life, according to MJ he stole them from people his age who died when they were children. The whole thing gave Danny the creeps. The FBI wasn't even entirely sure what his real name was.

At some point in the day he'd try to get hold of his mum's lawyer. Which was always frustrating. He always had to go through about three secretaries to talk to him, and when he did finally get to ask him about what was going to happen, his answers were always vague, especially to his big questions.

This routine was very quickly growing tiring. They couldn't go outside without being hounded by photographers, news crews and journalists. Monica and Chandler would do a pre-recoded interview some time next week. There was still debate over how long Danny would have to be on for. He was dreading the whole thing. But MJ said it should reduce the media presence outside the house, which Danny was looking forward to. They were all going slight stir-crazy.

The garden was, with the exception of one incident with a remote controlled drone, private. The fences were high enough that even the nosiest of neighbours would have a difficult time peering over. And Danny could not have been more grateful for the space.

Jack had been horrified to learn Danny had never even seen a game of American football, and had taken to bringing him out and teaching him to play. He'd picked it up quickly, it wasn't too different to rugby. Which Danny was teaching Jack. The evenings often ended with the boys fiercely debating which sport was best.

Erica tended to watch from the shade of the porch, but occasionally gave into Jack's goading to play. Which was always eventful. Danny reckoned they were the most competitive people he'd ever met, although according to Erica they were nothing compared to their mother.

Erica was still very reserved around Danny, especially if they were alone. Their conversations' rarely went beyond small talk, although that wasn't exclusive to Erica. The whole family seemed to tiptoe round topics that might upset them or Danny. They'd ask him about life in Britain, but not _his_ life in Britain. As if by making no mention of his previous life they could pretend it never happened. He didn't exactly want to tell them his life story, but this treatment of him was slowly driving him insane.

Monica tended to hover round Danny, as if letting him out of her sight would make his disappear. He could understand, but it was getting annoying. She never said much either, just looked at him with longing in her eyes. Danny couldn't help but feel Monica wanted eleven years of meals and cuddles and kissing cuts and bruises better. She wanted Danny to suddenly turn into Matthew, and be the son she lost, not the one she has.

The more Danny drew away from her the more she hovered, the more he made it clear he wanted to be alone the more she grasped. Danny had tried to get away by going up to his room, but she would always find an excuse to bring him down and be with the rest of the family, where he'd end up making awkward small talk and wishing he could be anywhere else. The whole thing was getting old fast.

He could see Chandler especially was nervous about the whole situation, but he didn't acknowledge it was happening, at least not directly. He'd try ease the tension with a joke or story, but that sometimes made it worse. Nobody else said anything so the tension built. Then two weeks to the day he'd arrived, everything came to a head.

 **Omg has it really been so long?! Honestly I can't believe it's taken me so long to update, life has just got really busy lately, and I've changed my mind on how this story is going to play out like 100 times. Seriously, I have 7 versions of this chapter in my files.**

 **Anyway thank you to everyone who** **reviewed, followed or favourited. Y** **ou guys have really kept me motivated to continue with this :)**

 **Hope you enjoy**

 **ChocoholiclikeLupin x**


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